Just an old idea I'm reviving for the forums. Basically, make the starting conditions be tied to specific biomes, rather than new trees and old trees.
For example you could have.
Boreal Forest,
Temperate Forest,
Cactus Desert
Palm Desert
Tropical Rainforest
Temperate Swamp
Or something along those lines. Each biome has a specific combination of trees that spawn and its own unique animals. (Though I realize those take time to make.) You then of course have specific foresters for each biome.
What you then do, is have each tree spawn its own array of unique wild resources. Oaks provide acorns, pine trees provide pine nuts, date palms provide dates, banana trees provide bananas, etc. Plus maybe other wild resources that would be appropriate for the environment the tree is in. Like berry bushes, mushrooms, roots, wild grains, wild honey, frogs and turtles, birds nests, and even insects.
It would take a lot of work to make all this, but the beauty of it would be that you could make your own biomes just by using a different mix of trees. Heck make your own scenario, and customize the biome while your at it to be exactly to your desires.
