The Settlers: Rise of An Empire

Ok, I've had this game a couple weeks. I have a few questions.

Why do the production houses ( tanneries, weavers, dairies, butchers, bakeries and fish-smokers) all report "0" production when there's tons of natural resources in the store house?

Why do people complain of being hungry (and even protest) or not having clothing when again, there's plenty of food in the store house? Is there something I'm supposed to be doing? I tried building multiples of everything, both the gatherers and the producers, but that doesn't seem to be working.

I haven't found much literature about this game, so I'm hoping I can grab someone's attention with this.

 

I've played the game, and at times, your economy will degenerate into a series of 'needs'. This can escalate into a full blown shutdown ( on strike? ) type of situation. Because 'happiness' is affected by many things in the game, it's one of the usual suspects. Have a festival, for instance. That can help. Next, have a look around for workers, not working. They'll tell you what's wrong when you find them. Roads are also helpful in getting resources to move around more quickly.

When your town get's quite large, expect a delay between when your storehouse receives goods, and the 'word goes out' to the settlers. Because each one of these settlers has his own AI package, the program cycles through them one by one. So more settlers = more delay.

Sometimes, the resource needs become part of sequential chain. So, try to find which resource need can be most easily met. That will usually provide/free up secondary resources that will support the next tier, and so-on.