Actually you really don;t need more then 100,000 max. 60,000 I think is a good idea target. Use zbrush's displacement maped on the figure to get that fine detail, like this guy I'm working on. His mesh is less then 26,000 polys, but his zbrush displacement map was at about 16 million I think.

(Note this is a wip.. and doesn't have some of his textures, or proper displacement settings.. and this is an untouched poser 7 render.

Also, buy the book from amazon, "secrets to figure creation" by BL render.. it's invaluable.

Way too many people take way too many things way too seriously.