*Mine, Build, Reign, Try again.*
I tpday bumped the Version to 0.4 since... stuff got a bit wild in the past days.
So I will split my Devlogs to several topics each. First of all... let us have a look at the economy:
For the past few months the economy was pretty much stable.. I created 52 raw materials for 149 products using 205 recipes in 20 workshops.
But the most complex thing to build was the throne.. it consisted of just 3 steps in a tree: get Wood, get Stone, get Gems. Cut, polish and attach -> have throne.
This was not really a challange. YOu could basically build all workshops on day one and let your Gnomes create each and every available ressource one after another building the next workshop whenever possible.
Like with the brain an Overhaul of the whole thing had to be done.
First of all.. i want(ed) to prevent players from setting up the whole chain of workshops on day 1 so i had to create a "tech-tree" to unlock more complex workshops and reciped later on. I took a lot of inspiration from the complex but simple to use tech tree in Kerbal Space Program (Shoutout to my old QA tester friends!). To unlock a new technology a gnome has either to find an old textbook in the ruins of other settlements and study it or analyse plants, unknown mechanisms and so on. 
This added, to my simulated runs (see the Update on the deterministic gameplay simulations) just about 5% to 10% of game time but adds a whole new system to the game as well as a neat little challange for the player. Second.. the production chain was too simple. Have stones create chair is... too simple. (and uncomfortable! I dont want to start having analogies put up to the KENNEDY center with its imaginary marble arm rests ;)). Anyhow... now a char consists of wooden planks and sticks.. so well.. it is not exactly complicated but.. better still.
Now the tree for Wood looks a bit different:
It is not much more complex but the player has multiple ways to build one and the same item and also several craftable ressources that can be used on various recipes..
My goal was not to make the game hellishly complex and a grind to play but to add complexity without increasing the amount of time to finish the main goals artificially.
Since it is almost 12pm and my dayjob calls me to be there at 6am i will stop this devlog at this point with a small sneak peek at what is to be expected from the next posts: Animal Husbandry, Quality and Skill, Sour milk and moths.