So, exactly what I said should be done has been done about the second issue; because I don't tend to replay games to balance test that sort of thing, I'm going to reccomend it, and leave the original review text there. It was written for 0.2.3.2.
(Also, this is a free game - why is steam offering a check box for if I received the product for free on it?)
To detail my issues:
Firstly, without more options being developed, the player should probably only get to chose between a Mace speciality and a Sword speciality on their first run.
The reasons for this are:
Spear appears to apply to the sharp stake, which is only technically not useless to improve on. It's much more difficult to get enough of one resource type in particular given the current state of the employee subsystem, so Rod and Bow specialities, while okay, aren't as good as those two. The other specialities appear to of simply not have weapons in the game yet.
As this decision is made before the player can get any of that info, it shouldn't be possible to pick wrong.
I've since gotten some indication that this is partially an issue of lacking UI clarity; adventure can unlock new blueprints.
Secondly, given that, the core loop should for sure still be quicker than it is - said loop clearly being you gather resources to make products that you sell for the money you can use to gather more resources, make more expensive products, and, eventually, retire.
To estimate, I'd probably say that the tier one products should provide 40 per second on unlock, and each tier after that should provide half the previous tier's unlock quantity, rounded up. Something to slow down the high tier gathering upgrades is probably a good idea, as would be doubling the amount that each upgrade provides of the tier one resource - to get rid of that awkward early game. I'm not sure if that'd be enough to keep the retirement where it is or not. It's also possible that reducing the exp requirement growth rate for the buildings could help, but it'd be a good idea to make this sort of change in phases anyways.
Thirdly, the adventure system as is is quite awkward. This... probably isn't a high priority, really, and a quicker exit from the Town Outskirts region, likely by improving the AOE or Awareness skill at a similar level as the Militia's tanking, is all that it could do with in terms of just adjusting what's there, rather than working deeper on the spot that's most obviously where things will get deeper.
I've since received some indication this is a lack of UI clarity. The requirements can be partially met, and only the lower power value needs to be met in order to clear the first depth.
Fourthly, the "time" or "hourglass" prestige resource is only being gathered while the game is running; a reduced rate and a limit per offline period is almost certainly a good idea for a resource like that, but it should be added during the offline earnings.
Addressing all of that should make it stop feeling like this has entered early access too early, and dealing with the tutorial - which I kinda got the impression is the current development focus - as well as making those changes is likely to get a strong improvement in reviews.
(Also, as a note for the dev, even if your actively not charging money for anything in this game, I'd recommend an easily found donate button somewhere in it, probably the settings. But that's not an issue that relates to if I'd recommend it or not.)
