Hey, thanks for your message! I'm glad you envoyed it. We enjoyed making it. :)
I agree, the mechanics need some refining.
We did play around with log-like functions (no pun intended) for wood and food production but in the end settled for something simpler. Consumption however has always been linear (1/1). I'll try ramping it up.
What helped diversify the gameplay and make it a little bit more surprising, was delaying the population response to food (population crash and reproduction). I'll try playing around a bit more with that too.
Also thinking of allowing the player to go over the population cap (which would cost you in victory points at the end, on account of homelessness...). Adds one more thing for the player to watch out for / balance out.