With the release of 1.3.3 a few days ago I feel like Bronze Age is pretty stable, and it's time to start looking towards the future. 

1.4 - Settlement Update

The goal of 1.4 is to streamline some aspects of settlement management and trade. With it I hope to iron out some pain points in managing large settlements and remove the micro-management from trade routes. It's shaping up to be a rather large chunk of work, and so will probably take awhile longer than previous updates. The key features are:

• New Settlement Simulation - Rework the logic around handling citizens and production within settlements.
• Pig Breeding - Dedicated structures for breeding pigs, to support an increased need for them with the other features.
• Support for Custom Graphics Sets - Seeing the work that harry762 has done, I'm adding support for loading custom graphics sets from within the game.
• Improved Settlement Logistics - Moving items around a settlement keeps a lot of citizens busy, this will give you tools to streamline it.
• UI Fixes for Large Populations - Rework parts of the UI to allow for large settlement and warband sizes.
• Caravan Trade Model - New automatic trade model based around  caravans, instead of the current manual trade routes.
• Boats - Either manually controlled for carrying warbands and migrants, or automated traders.

Improved Settlement Logistics

Large settlements in 1.3 spend a lot of time moving items around. In 1.4 the New Settlement Simulation results in an increase in items within a settlement, and actually makes the problem worse. The goal of this feature is to give you tools to manage it. I haven't finalized the design yet but I have a few ideas, and I figured this would be a good opportunity to float them to the community for feedback.

I'm currently leaning towards Option 1, as it would be the easiest one on the player. I'm also open to any suggested names for the new structures.

Option 1

Add a new structure that produces hand-carts and wagons, citizens will travel to this structure pick one up, and then travel around the settlement picking up and delivering items. The amount of citizens doing this is controllable through the Work Settings menu. These dedicated haulers would grab items closest to them, and take them to their destination.

Pros

Easiest for players to manage, only one new structure.

Cons

Logic is a little more complicated to develop.

Players have less control over how items are shipped.

Option 2

Similar to option 1, a new structure produces hand-carts and wagons. Instead of the haulers grabbing shipments based on proximity, there would be a new shipping depo type structure (which could be the same as the one that produces wagons). Structures within range of the shipping depot wouldn't be considered for normal item transport, instead they would entirely rely on hand-carts and wagons.

Pros

Easier logic to implement.

More player control over item shipping.

Cons

More complicated for the players to implement.

Possible to starve structures of item transport if there aren't enough hand-carts and wagons.