but you dont zoom INTO the leaf itself.
Aw... so we don't get to watch water being sucked through the veins in the leaves? *pout*
So by the sounds of it I was somewhat correct when I said it will be similar to SoaSE zooming. A very far out level (cloth map) which is highly abstracted, A level in which things are icons, the 3d model level, and a more detailed version of the 3d model level. All of which zooms seemlessly in true Stardock fasion! 
As far as your question goes Leonon, I would guess it primarily has to do with how powerful an item is. In a tiny map, a crystal or 2 which gives the caster back 50% of his maximum mana per turn would not be nearly as powerful as the same crystals in a very large map. This is because large maps last longer, and thus by endgame 50% of the caster's mana is enough to bulldoze down any defences. Meanwhile on the tiny map, the caster is less powerful since he has much less time to build up his skills and so 50% of his mana would only be enough to arm 5 soldiers with magical weapons. Not to mention, 1 or 2 would be fine for a tiny map, but if you took the same density of that item and spread them across a huge map, it could have 100 or so of that 50% mana regen crystal, which would be very upsetting to the game's balance since everyone would always have full mana. And once again I have rambled on a bit to long with an example... But I hope I got the point across. What works on small scale might not work on a large scale, and vice-versa.
