Thorshammer is right about the villager management being critical in the early ages of an Age Series game as we know them. Of course it is critical in the later ages too, but so is combat. So, I think what people are looking for is a way to maintain what they have established in the way of an economy when they go off to war. I do think that your ability to develop an economy should be a factor in the gameplay, but not necessarily an ongoing chore for the entire game. I believe Alexandergreat3 is just wondering what could/will be done in AOM to improve the situation. And judging by the response, I think he has hit a nerve. Consider the following:
Multiple gatherpoints for villagers - We all know that the TC allows one gatherpoint for all villies made or ungarrisoned there. I propose that this should remain true in AOM for the TC, but that once you build various storage buildings you will be able to set gatherpoints for the type of villie that deposits resources there. For example, build a lumber mill and you can now set a gatherpoint for lumberjacks to work. Build a mill and you can now set three gatherpoints, one for farmers to plant and work around, one for shore fishing and one for hunters. Build a mining camp and you can set a gatherpoint on a prefered gold pile. This way, the player still has to decide where the buildings are built and where the work is done, but the tedium of the managing is reduced. It also means that the early moments of the game are still controlled by micromanaging your villies, which I agree is important and even fun. This is really no different than the "send villies back to work" button, but it has other advantages as follows.Villager Balance Controls - As I have already posted, but reconsidered a bit, villager balance controls could be added that would control where new villies and villies who dump off resources at a storage site will go next. The controls might look like this:Villager Balance
-----None--Low--Med--High
Food |----------------+-|
Wood |-----------+------|
Gold |-----------+------|
Build|-+----------------|Food Balance
-----None--Low--Med--High
Farm |-----------+------|
Fish |-+----------------|
Hunt |-----------+------|
Berry|------+-----------|
The AI would look at the various balance priorities on the sliders, shown above, each time a villie is created or drops off resources. It then determines what his task will be based on how many villies are currently on each task. If it is food, it also determines what type. The villie is then sent off to do the work at the appropriate gatherpoint (see above).
Worker Management Technology - This could all be made into a technology that doesn't work until you research it and isn't available until the second age. This would definitely keep the micromanagement of villagers essential to the first age, but unobtrusive in the later ages.
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