'm not a fan of management sims, so if you ask me what the point is, I'll say there is none. They're a simulation (more akin to toys than games) of bean-counting (as much fun as a stick in the eye). A fan would probably tell you that the point is to make the little people do your bidding (maybe not in those words). Essentially, the aim of the game is to "build a thriving nation", which, to me, means that there is no clearly defined goal, or it is too subjective to be definable,

A nice thing with simulation games is, you can have a big amount of goals.

These can be set by the player himself *if* the game allows for some creative managing.

(movable/changable things on a map would allow some creative managing)

They can also be set by the game

Things like "get 100% happiness" are a bit basic, and should possibly be included in the tutorial though.

And stranger goals will likely complicate the programming.

I have been thinking about the map & the game's premise, and I get the feeling these are not compatible. Since you are managing a country with highly detailed provices there is no point in that many provinces in the first place. Maybe like 8 provinces, so you can always remember what is where? Also, isn't the map too "important"? I mean, it takes always at least half the screen (more in higer resolution) while the province report (with all the factories, population, etc) takes only half of the screen (and even less in higher resolutions).

Also, I was wondering about separate cities (on the map). Currently each province is one city+countryside with factories, fields, mines. What if there were like 5 cities (not being part of provinces, technicly these would display as small provinces) that have factories & other complex structures and 8 (or more provinces) that have only fields and mines?

Maybe that would work better?

Your map is sufficiently large to have a variety of symbolic icons (the numbers could be smaller and alongside the name to free up the space next to the figure). Little animated Icons chuffing away with steam could make a nice addition and be represenative of the resources (for an overall strategic view short of having to look into a detailed data page for each area.