I'm going to be writing this out as I play, so some of it will have corrections or updates later, but I think that this style works best for my feedback on this game, as it shows how I felt as I came across things.
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I'm not sure what I think about the new change forcing you to sleep at night. It wasn't one I saw mentioned, and when it activated I was confused for a bit. After the tutorial I went back and rested, then set out to do my next planned things, only to get to my destination and be unable to act. I was so focused on clicking to do the thing, that I missed the new text about needing to rest. I had just finished resting up to full, planning to do several things, so that was wasted time.
I was also surprised by the next morning already being Campaign Day. Having played before I had a bit of a plan for how to start, and which of the new features I wanted to start testing, so some of my thinking is biased by my previous plays and knowledge. I'll need to restart and pay a bit more attention which the mindset of a new player.
As I typed this out, with the popup for starting the next tutorial sitting on screen, I am acknowledging that this may only be for the first day and based on my feedback from last month about running out of energy. Hmm, you don't want to control the entire first day, but you do end the first tutorial with low energy, which could encourage players to rest up as I just did. Maybe at the end of the intro tutorial add a comment that you will need to rest at a certain time to prepare for the next day being a Campaign Day. Just that little bit of heads up for planning the rest of the day.
Having played more, I see that, yes, it was just the first night that did the forced rest for the campaign day tutorial, and a note in the intro tutorial about it, and being just that 1 night, would be helpful. Without the note people might assume it is every night.
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I had rallied a Gateway before it was added to my list of goals, and it did not count towards the goal.
Similarly, the Supermarket I built does not seem to be counted towards upgrading the Cafe, and I think it is likely due to having been built before I rallied the Cafe and unlocked being able to upgrade it. Our kids played and also commented about their Supermarkets & other locations not being counted for things, though I don't have their details handy right now.
The kids also had a good question. What is a "unit"? Is grid based? Is it based on travel distance down the road?
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I just won on the second campaign day. I like many of the changes in this update.
I think the automatic upgrading of what the crowd does based on # of people is a good choice. I would suggest updating the UI so that as you add more people (or remove them) the selected action and description updates to reflect the current best action the crowd will perform. The visual updating based on crowd size is also a nice touch.
I like the tokens for rally points. Maybe move them onto the road, instead of above the buildings. I'm not sure what I think about the bonus bar for collecting a bunch at once. I can see it making sense that as you rally more people it will boost the others rallying as well, but in game I didn't really get the bar that high, maxing at 2 or maybe 3. With a longer game, and more locations nearby each other it may work better. I played to experiment with things, and knowing some of how the game works, so can't say my play style was a good reflection of a normal player. My partner will be playing later and we will see a different play style does with it.
While I found the old points system a bit confusing, I think that allowing buildings to unlock simply by building others may allow things to progress too quickly. I think that you may want to consider adding a limit based on Rating. Keep the current building restrictions in place, but as the secondary requirement, set a minimum Rating level that must be reached, such as Marginal in the area that building boosts. No points to spend, just that you have to reach a certain level of building up to unlock.
I like being able to pick what zoning when activating a utility post. It allows me to better place certain buildings where they are most convenient. I placed bus and parking locations near the base so I'd pass them as often as possible to optimize my energy & time use. It also helps with being able to place the required buildings near the upgradable locations. Of course, it is a bit of a double-edged sword there, in that new players could lock themselves out of upgrades because they used up all the nearby zones with the wrong type before finding out what they needed to upgrade the buildings, and then can't build the right one close enough. I think the "units" needs to be clarified, and it may need some review with the change to being able to pick zoning. Of course, I rarely get to upgrading things, so missing out on it does not seem too big a deal, in the current state.
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When I started out I wasn't sure how I was going to do things. I went through the tutorial to see how it changed. Then I paused and thought about things a bit, before going to rest up to almost full energy. I went to collect the cash along the left side, but as soon as I reached it, I got the go to sleep message. I then went through the Campaign Day tutorial. After the tutorial ended I continued protesting at the HQ until I couldn't. It looked like I got a pretty good way towards winning there. With proper planing it might be possible to win on Campaign Day 1, especially if not doing the tutorials.
After resting I went through and started activating utility poles, taking advantage of the free buildings. While I think it is nice to have, I think it is too powerful, and part of how I can win so quickly. I built my parking lot at the corner to the left of the Cafe. I then went around activating several more poles, adding a couple apartments and a fancy house. I also added some other zones and buildings to build up my Ratings for protest options, such as the Blockade, and to complete enough goals for the first bonus cash. The day before Campaign Day I went around and rallied. I gathered at 2 spots, then put a blockade on the left side street, gathered at 2 more and put one at the top. Then I gathered at each of the others and went straight to the HQ. I protested several times with everyone remaining, until I won. My last protest had 20 people.
* It would be nice if after winning I could hide the "You Win" popup to see the town, for writing these reviews, and potentially taking a screenshot. It is a minor thing, and I don't want you to spend too much time on it, but if you have a thought for an easy way to do so it could help with feedback.
When I won there were at least 6 other BigRealty buildings. There were 4 I could see, and I'm pretty sure 2+ under the popup. The exact # doesn't matter, but it feels like with that many locations they should have more influence to counter our protesting. I think it would feel better if the player was encouraged to reclaim those other locations before going after the HQ. I wouldn't prevent winning by direct protest at the HQ, but make it harder for each other building they have. I'd treat it like armor or a shield. If you don't reduce their influence by reclaiming those other buildings, then your protests have to get through that extra protection they have from their own influence in the community.
* More notes on this below from replays.
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I started a new game without the tutorial. I did not get the forced sleep message, which is nice. I then built a bunch of residential zones. My last one Showed the green "Activated Zoning Bonus" message, but also showed the cost in red for each building type, preventing me from building for free. From testing it seems like the bonus currently only applies to new buildings you have not previously built. So, I can build one of each Residential building type, but my 4th Residential zone cannot get a free building. I went back and tested the previous version, and was able to build 2 free Apartments. I can see a reason for this change with the new ability to pick your zoning type, but it should be conveyed to the player, including removing the bonus message.
If you started a protest after 19:00, you will get the end of Campaign Day popup, but when it closes will still be protesting.
I had a residential area where it showed as Rallied, but I could not gather. It also showed a cost for rallying, but that option was also greyed out. This was a new home, so I am thinking that maybe no family had moved in yet, and that was the issue, but it should have something to better convey that to the player.
I tried a few times to see if I could win on Campaign Day 1, skipping the tutorial and focusing on going straight to the HQ, but was not able to do it. My first protest had a Marginal Success Rate, but then it went down to Poor. I decided to experiment with trying to win while playing the tutorial. I played the tutorial, but then activated the poles so I could build an Apartment and a Fancy House. I rallied what I could in the time left. I did the Campaign Day (CD) tutorial, and then rallied and gathered what I could, before returning to the HQ to protest, and won. I retested without the tutorial, but did protest at the other BigRealty location the tutorial had you do, before heading to the HQ. I did get back down to Poor, but other locations became available for rally/gather, so I collected more protesters, and returned to finish the job. So, it does look like you have something in place for the other locations influencing the victory chance, just that it has more effect on CD 1, and by CD 2 it was easy to overcome. Please keep in mind that I am deliberately playing with knowledge of the game to see how fast I can win, so this is not going to be the normal, but there will certainly be people who focus on the HQ. It would be good to add a bit more player info on the affect of the other locations, along with a bit more balancing how they affect the protesting so they are more powerful on CD 2.
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I did it again! I was able to soft lock the game. I was resting when crossing the 20:00 tutorial message about needing to rest. When the rest ended I was unable to take any other actions, including sleeping for the night. I could interact with other UI elements, just not move or interact with the building to rest. Retrying and selecting Sleep worked fine.
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This was a nice update. The game is definitely heading in the right direction.