a multiplayer game of parenting and civilization building
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The person who suggested tractors and such: YES YES.
Car: totally useless, basically.
Tractor: almost exactly the same recipe-wise, can use all the same development work already sunk, but makes farming easier? Incredibly useful and relevant all of the sudden!
The core dev work is quality, but this subtle shift in perspective and purpose to "things people actually care about because they spend a lot of time on them in game" dramatically shifts its importance and impact.
In order to progress civilization, people want exactly the same things real people wanted at that time period: stuff that makes what they do all day long easier. Not shiny toys. Then the next things that become what you do all day instead will have new things that make them easier. That's great content planning, IMO.
* A horse collar and plow would have been less anachronistic than a tractor, but same idea. Make farming easier
* Gas ovens using the kerosene -- can just switch on and off and cook 1 or 2 items if you want without being inefficient, for example.
* Better woodworking tools, having lathes and things being able to use one type of wood to make other kinds of wood's items, when you take the time to build them, that would make life way easier. Using butt logs to make small handles, etc. etc. using fancy machines. Being able to make a whole tray of letters out of one butt log with a milling machine or sander, that sort of thing.
* Machines that pull more rocks out of a quarry site so you can make more buildings in a radius if you invest in the fancy machines
* Better storage even if fancy and expensive, so you can get more done in a denser urban space
* Stuff like conveyor belts or whatnot to assist in efficiency and automation of basic tasks, especially if emergently designed (like redstone sort of thing, or factorio)
Then, as we can no longer have to worry about food as much anymore, later game, we have free time to spend doing more things that become the next layer of gameplay loop, at a higher tech level. Then new content helps automate THOSE, etc.
"You are making wooden letters by hand."
Only because the game forces me to do this very silly thing. If I were actually making a field expedient sign to tell passersby something in real life, with low tech, and a wooden board in my hand, I would SCRATCH letters into it like teenage lovers putting their initials on a tree. In like 30 seconds. Not steam and bend saplings into individual letters, lol.
If you want to project extreme power and wealth by making a super fancy sign like that, for your megacity, awesome. I like it as an option. In the meantime, 90% of signs would/should be simple carved/scratched letters to actually get things done and be practical.
Extremely avoidable common knowledge being unknown because somebody wasn't standing there THAT SECOND that an easy mistake is made shouldn't cause so much mayhem and frustration. It's not fun for either party, and having signs doesn't undermine the players teaching players philosophy anyway.
Buildings: These should push you closer to 0.5 temperature, always, simple as that. Adding heat makes them not just tedious, but actively harmful since most towns are built in warm places. And unrealistic anyway -- buildings in hot sunny places are cooler than outside in real life. In game, simply pushing you toward 0.5 would make them fun, motivating, and all around great and an important goal. Easy peasy.
Clothing: 1) Make climate zones MUCH MUCH MUCH larger in terms of temperature, so that my whole life will tend to be lived in roughly the same temp range if outdoors. 2) Then all you have to do is add some new types of clothes that are warm weather like flowing robes and things, and it becomes a matter of clothing being beneficial in both warm and cold environs, but picking the right kind (Like linen robes are better than naked in hot, rabbit fur is better than naked in cold)
Since the climate would not change quickly, and since buildings push toward 0.5, you'd never have to micromanage clothing (very unfun), yet clothing and buildings could both still very much matter for survival.
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