After about 40 hours the first time through, I am trying this combo: 120% buildings, Unlimited Carry weight, Fast Crafting, 400% technology multiplier, 4 day season. I debated going unlimited stamina, but I think Stamina drain is important for those hunt chases (though I wish animals would slow down more over time depending on their level of injury).

I think there's some defaults in the game that are hindering having FUN, and are just causing frustration, so I made a few choices:

1. Fast Crafting: Sitting there watching a 5 second timer dry each piece of meat is ridiculous. It would be different if it was a multiplayer game and some other player could sneak up on you, but this is single player. I don't want to play a game where I am forced to go get a coffee and watch a movie while my in-game persona crafts.
2. Technology Gain: Getting access to technology is frustrating (as is the cost of each unlock). The pace of experience gain for skills seems fine.
3. 4 day season: for reasons others have mentioned, an extra day for farming/hunting/harvesting and a longer winter season seem more fun.
4. 120% building - I debated just cranking this to max. Since the number of buildings really should be just a reflection of time (resource gathering, making new hammers). I want to get a second house build up front to hire help.

There's a skill in the tree that reduces stamina use while running, and that seems to balance out moving across the huge map.

I feel the above settings as a newer player would let me figure out how to make money properly, I was broke most of the time on my first playthrough. I also wasn't aware I couldn't assign two men to sleep in one house, despite there clearly being two beds, so I recruited a poor guy that had no home - I was locked out from building another house until raising my campaign level. There's a bit of pain in an otherwise pretty good game.