I think the 2x unit or goods added planning and more team work i think a better solution would have been to have maps that have many nodes open at any given time.
I think the towns should be able to build any army building and any goods buildings also you should not be able to see how many people have selected what buildings this means guild planning becomes important and as the guild works through the map if a weakness is identified people can change there production to help. By doing this would mean people need to chat and plan more though the QI.