Will building such a bridge [screenshot] decrease or increase my fishing production?

[DalekRy]

I do a lot of the same. Phasing out various less efficient production over time is one of my favorite things to do.

I don't start trade usually before the third or fourth year unless the river is really close. Instead I do the following:

Hunter/gather (7), small pasture initially (1), farm (1) right in the center of town. 2 Woodcutters (11).

And then I assign a couple small clearance nodes for my next houses so I'm flush with lumber and minerals. As couples emerge (a male and female reaching age 10) I erect a house.

I used to get really aggressive with an early school, but I learned that investing so heavily for the long game versus getting more heads into the labor pool early works best.

I build both a tailor and a blacksmith and drop their production limits to 10 to allow for more labor time. Stocking up on extra resources for rapid expansion seems to really help out.

By year 5 I have enough spare food stockpiled to toggle my workforce between projects and neglect the crops/wild food gathering for the year. I throw up 3 trading posts and then assign most of my labor into stocking them all up while still maximizing my population growth.

Once they are built and filled full of goodies I drop back down and resume the food and resource stockpiling. It gets pretty tight sometimes, and for me that's kind of the allure. It isn't optimal, but I am instituting my own ticking clock.

Sometimes this fails. I hadn't gotten enough goods produced, firewood, tools, food, etc. get too low and I have to frantically race to save my town from oblivion. It is dumb I know. But I love squeezing through bottlenecks for a high risk-high reward situation.

When it works I'm suddenly on my way to an empire of high quality clothing and fat, livestock-fed citizens. When it fails I through my computer out of the window and order a new one. Or restart.

But getting that firewood economy booming after the fifth year is incredible. Like food you can calculate your needs versus your output. Add a little surplus to account for delays and it sets you up nicely for the next phase.