Lastan

Not quite. The worse the economy gets, the higher tax rate is needed to keep up with the ruler's demands even if they remain the same, but it's because the peasants you tax are much poorer. Countries like Sweden, Finland, Norway... have rather high tax rates, yet they are safe, well-off, and rather efficient.

I don't think it'll make the game too easy. For one, you'll have to buy stuff to make it do certain things, and you'll have to earn that money first. And survive the inevitable raids and whatnot that'll rob you of your hard-earned money before you manage to save up. By the time you get certain upgrades, the bonus they provide won't be exactly meaningless, but definitely not as important as it would have been at lower levels, back when you started drooling over it. Sure, I expect the bonuses to make a difference, but not more so than, say, magic items that you get to keep on the entire time. And let's not forget about planning. The stronghold bonuses will be temporary, and it can be rather inconvenient if they run out just before you needed them...

Woah. The stronghold sounds rather like a game of its own. Can't wait.

It’s been a long while since I played IWD games, but I seem to remember different options and attitudes depending not only on character’s alignment but also on race and sex. I think a good approach would be making some aspect of playing either sex problematic in a way (and, who knows, maybe a sexless or multi-sexed race to play as well; I haven’t followed updates in detail, so I don’t know if all the races have been announced). Depending on the lore and the size of the world, the problematic aspects could even differ in different parts.

You may have heard of Brooks’s Law: adding manpower to a late software project makes it later. Granted, this project is not yet late, but it has been almost quadrupled in size. And even if most of the work were not an issue, you can’t get the storyline finished faster by adding people to it. Two authors won’t write a novel faster than one would; nine women won’t deliver a baby in one month. Certain things take time. And certain things that take time can only be done after other things that take time have been done. Also, certain people – not the whole team, but still at least one or two – need to keep the whole game in their heads. And even if they had everything ready to go when they started the project (which I doubt), they’d now have to restart anyway

Have you considered making a torrent?