Ok these are my thoughts after reaching to max tier on 3 maps on hardest diff (lakes/ flat/ arid)
The leveling tool should have the ADDITIONAL option to pick which level we want to achieve. Like pick the base height and the leveling should try to get to this point. Alternatively, an option like elevate or lower ground would work just fine too.
Option to manually order workers to repair damaged building (for example by prioritizing this action)
It would be a nice idea to add specialized workers which only do SMALL delivery jobs. It would help to smooth the exchange process in bigger cities. (Carts seems to be unreliable. Honestly, I don’t really know how many or where should I place them to maximize their efficiency)
Warehouses should have an option to actively search and stockpile a set amount of certain goods to be used by production buildings that are close. It would reduce the travel time. Carts could be used to transport bulk amounts between warehouses.
Markets should actively look for and equalize other food types. It would be nice to give us an option to manage them in the same manner as the warehouses in point 4.
Logistics need some important tweaks and changes. For the moment being, if you plop storages and root cellars next to markets, pop will grab anything they need from root cellars before or without visiting the market. This could change to follow a chain of logistics manner. Meaning that production workers, could stock manufactured/harvested products in storage facilities (stockyards, root cellars, granaries and large storages) and markets could have an extra 2 slots of workers just for transporting stocked things from those storages to the market. The rest 2 market workers could act as sellers, to deliver goodies to the pop. This would require you to build a robust logistics chain in late game and to master the delivery system in order to keep you focused on the gameplay.
Wainwrights will only transport heavy loads. I tend to place them either near the source that is producing the goods I want them to transport (mines, brickyards) or the storage building, typically stockyard.
They will transport heavy goods a lot faster than regular villagers. You can tell if you have too many by clicking on the building and seeing if they’re idle. A little micromanaged, but the only way to check for certain.
More or less, that is what I try to do with them. Heavy loads are not a problem in the long run, though. I find the small supply chain between craftsman buildings a problem. As the town stretches, so the distances between residential areas, manufacturers, storage and gathering / mining. Later their efficiency drop like 50%. It would be nice if we have dedicated errand boys to move goods while the employees are more focused on doing their actual work.
Good observations… I had hoped that more wainwrights/carts = faster goods transit but this isn’t as achievable as one might hope. Unlike your location site based approach I created a large 'wagon yard enclosure, with courtyard turning space and multiple entrances and exits thinking this might help, until I noticed that wagons just pass right through each other when traversing the fortified gates in and out of cities…also I tried to build ‘double width’ roads but the tool won’t allow you to do this, but again it doesn’t seem to matter. I am yet studying how and when the wagons actually get used… I have a near 400 settlement now (Tier 3) and lengthy distances between opposite ends of the estate and outlying mines and work camps but it still seems the default that the little people prefer to grab a basket and run 5 miles with 2 logs to a job rather than load up the wagons… hmmm…it would be good to have more resource logistics control as mentioned in the thread.