I have 2 Suggestions.
Bigger Rework
- Houses are infinite
- 200 Population limit (Lobby setting)
- Villager limit is 100 (Citizens count double)
- Every Economic unit counts towards the limit (Caravans and Fishing ships)
- Every Town Centre increased the population limit by 25
- Every Town Centre increased the Villager limit by 5
- Town Centres and Village Centres only provide 10 population themselves
This system would make more sense.
Town Centres provide too much population compared to Age of Empires (there they only provide 4-10) while all the houses are just build in one spot early on.
Now you need to build additional houses for every new Town Centre you conquer.
Also increases the Villager limit a little so you can scale up your economy.
Smaller rework
- 20 Limit for houses (10 Manors) (Lobby setting)
- Villager limit is 100 (Citizens count double)
- Every Economic unit counts towards the limit (Caravans and Fishing ships)
- Every Town Centre increased the Villager limit by 5
Works in a similar way but changes less about the game.
In both cases you start with 105 villager limit and will likely have around 115 in most matches.
That is less then the 100 Villagers plus 50 Caravans you have now but I think it’s enough.
AoM villagers are really efficient compared to other AoE games. Only AoE3 has slightly better villagers but they also cost 2x as much.
In a 12 player FFA game it becomes more valuable to conquer more players territories so you can increase your villager limit.
After conquering 3 other players you are at a villager limit of 160 and therefore surpassing the current limit.
This general villager limit also gives you more flexibility to choose what kinda economic units you want instead of having a fixed 100 Villager + 50 Caravans setup in every match.