Optimal number of players?

I am getting ready to run a AW game and I am wondering what people's experience has been with group size?
I usually prefer to run 4 players plus a GM/MC, but I find that most games have a sweet spot.
Thoughts?

I think MC+3 is the best, personally.

MC+2 or MC+4 works, too, of course, but for me MC+3 is the sweet spot.

Agreed.

The only downside to MC+3 is that if you have people missing out during weeks, you're left with the MC+2 option, which isn't as dynamic. MC+4 tends to start to put strain on all the things happening at once, and it can be difficult for some people to keep the correct balance of screen-time. I've done MC+5 before. It's a different kind of game at that point, and has it's own kinds of rules of thumb to keep working.

These can be very dependent on the players too. 

(All very true!)

MC+2 or MC+4 works, too, of course, but for me MC+3 is the sweet spot.

I find MC+3 doesn't give quite enough social complexity and tension. MC+4 seems ideal to me.

My experience has been that MC+4 starts to get challenging in terms of screentime and scene framing (easy to leave a player just sitting there for an hour at a time, if you're not careful!).

I also like the relationship map complexity that comes of so many players at one table, but it starts to become a balancing act. If you run a game where the characters are at odds with one another, or pointed at each other ("PvP"), and the MC can largely sit back and just let them do things with/against each other, then it can work really nicely.

Thank you.
GM+4 is what I run in just about anything else, but was not sure. AW plays differently then most anything else I have run.

My regular game is GM+5. That's about as big as I want to go, and is predicated almost entirely on my players being universally awesome.