Yeah, the game needs rebalancing.
While I'm reluctant to remove the exponential growth of the humans, as it is very thematically appropriate, I could definitely do some things to curtail how rapidly they are able to expand towards resources. Which in turn should slow down their early stages of exponential growth.
Also, I'll play around some more with the side-effects of the natural features.
Originally, the rivers were supposed to be more powerful, allowing for them to be placed over any occupied human tiles by "flooding" said spaces. That would have put them on par with the mountains in power and usefulness. But the time limitation from the GTMK game jam prevented me from getting it working before the deadline. And honestly, I had kinda forgotten that that was planned, hahaha. So thanks for reminding me indirectly.
Regardless, I'm glad you enjoyed the game!
Thanks for playing!