I’ll admit that my first 2-3 towns in Banished struggled on day one, as I fiddled with mechanics. “Wow,” I thought. “Here’s a city builder that’s super punishing!”
And then I discovered gatherer’s huts.
And then I discovered that my population was quite happy, no matter what, to always eat the berries, nuts, and mushrooms collected by gatherers.
And then I realized I kind of couldn’t lose after that. The game never pushed me to improve my settler housing. Never pushed me to increase the quality or types of food. Never pushed me to do anything.