I'll have to admit that I'm a little apprehensive with this idea. I'd prefer a bit more freedom in our shaping of the world (for example, each location has an overall number of points and the players use those points to "buy" improved resource income in a point-buy type of system) otherwise the same problem Karakui mentioned may appear. (For example, a location that has 10 Food income but only 2-3 everything else is pretty much only ever going to support an agricultural nation.)
Unless I'm mistaken on how this is supposed to work...?
Well if a nation had only a 2-3 in everything else, they could establish trades that could supply them with 50+ units of the goods they need to develop further. They could then use those traded resources to build new developments to increase their production of certain things.
EX:
Territory X has a default income of:
10 food
2 wood
3 stone
If they gain enough seeds through trade and then enough wood to make the tools necessary, they can begin to cultivate forests. Their wood production may then go up to 4 wood. Perhaps the cost of "forest planting" would be 20 wood and 20 seed.
You know? Like, every event that came up, if someone was like " i wanna build a mine " then we'd kind of decided, "okay, a mind will cost wood, stone, and ores to craft it, plus food for the work. For 10 wood, 20 stone, and 10 food, you can increase your stone or ore production by 2+.
That being said, if you have a better system in mind, feel free to explain it!
I'm just going through some scenarios that are bound to happen, like for example:
"Player A lives on the plains and some how has set their wood production to 10."
That makes no sense for starting off. So they say "well, we cultivated a type of low growing vine that thrives in the prairies and produces a woody material.
Okay... well, where is the line? How many "super creations" does each nation get?
How do we stimulate trade, treaties, and interactions?