by John85
I know at least several players on BGG have purchased several sets (8 - 13 $US) of custom meeples in different colors from meeplesource.com (I found them in a google search). That would theoretically allow for a greater than 6 player game (although I think most buy these sets for there favorite color rahter than for a 6+ player experience).I don't see a problem here other than the fact that scoring would be kept lower than normal (probably lose out on totals of more than a couple hundred), if that's even a problem. Also in my experience the game changes drastically with different numbers of players (2 v. 3-4 v. 5-6) as far as planning strategy, etc. It's hard to say whether there would be a change in larger that 6 player games without trying it (which I haven't), but that would be something to keep in mind.
Also I can't personally imagine many scenarios where I'd have more than 6 players without a few folks playing 2 to a team, but you may have a different experience with that too.
Too long a response, I hope this is helpful.