I propose to make, in addition to the idyllic map, another cluster map.
This map contains slightly poorer resources except for one resource, such as sand, (10 million tons for example) and you can make a path to the edge of the map and add another map (possible with loading) in which there is already a different map and with a different resource (for example, iron) and make caravans between maps. You can even make a primitive train and, as an idea, protect it from bandits. And in that map, which has not yet been explored, you can add enemy villages of bandits. I think the same concept is easily integrated into multiplayer, where I play on one map and my friend on the other