Maybe I am an idiot here but I read that you can have like 100 different players. How is that when at the start of a game you cannot pick more than 9 (that includes yourself with an AI opponent of the same race). There are only 8 major CIVs to choose from.
Do you get access to a larger number of factions in multiplayer? Or does it make a ton of minor CIVs on larger maps? Or am I smoking something?