When I see all the updates, it make me want to return to H&H, but than I see that its not possible.
So IMO, to have a healthy population, you have to change the things that make impossible for someone to come back after a pause.
so :
problem 1 :
all my chickens, cows, sheeps, horses, etc are dead
solution :
animals dont die, if they have no food, they just stop reproduce
problem 2 :
so I come back, what would I do ?
planting crops to have +2 qual to improve the quality of my animals : stupid farming behind my palissade so my chicken bones could be as good as trolls bones : is it fun ? no.
solution :
A - removing the tedious of farming :
You plant a field of crops, and put something like a hive in the middle where you colecte the production ( machine, smurfs, slaves barracks, watever can be role play compliant).
B - removing the race for quality : its plain boring
make the plants and animals keep the same quality every generation.
place nodes of good quality seeds and animals in the world, like clay or curios
if you want better quality, you explore to find a node or you trade your good qual weat for some good qual flax seeds
mining is ok, you dont grind ore quality, you juste find good nodes and its fun
but if we dont spend our time in our claim farming like autists, what would we do ?
building, socialasing, exploring, raiding to capture good seeds and animals in other villages or claimed nodes, trading for the things you cant make.
why trade for good apple pie when you are certain that you will have good quality just by waiting a bit for your crops to improve ?
PS : and Granger is the reason I will not come back to forum to, please dont edit that Granger, its not a troll, its real, bye.