Of course, they simultaneously make it much more effective and efficient to run larger games on smaller computers. It's much easier to calculate and manage the allocation of abstract resources than it is to try and place them mechanically on board tiles.

From my perspective, it's a pretty vast improvement – though the problem is that it is harder to visualize and harder to communicate. In the next few patches we're supposed to see a little bit more feedback visually on the allocation of jobs and resources, which will help a bit.

I need to test and see if places that you can open a branch office are part of the Expansion Planner, because determining the best place to put a branch office involves a lot of clicking and poking around right now, which is hugely annoying.