Hi. Im 24 years of age and been a gamer as far back as I can remember, and Your game caught my attention. I've watched some reviews and videos on the gameplay, and it appears to be lacking goals as means to an end.
The thing that would make me and probably many others purchase it would be if you added combat, and other competing factions.
In regards to combat you could make it optional, the only thing I'm completely certain of in regards to that is that people enjoy having goals to chase, and a victory screen along with a cut-scene to get closure.
other types of ending could be that when you've reached a certain level of thriving or a specific amount of people, or a specific level of technology/advancement, or survival for a certain time, that would be the victory mode, but that would hardly be fulfilling, and besides both the Galactic civ. series and Sid Meiers civ. series has already done most of those.
What makes me really enjoy a game is the combination of, and balance between, survival, building and combat. There's alot of gamers out there like me just drooling for that next game which has the perfect combination of the three. The game I think fulfills it the most, and which is my personal favourite, is "Stronghold Crusader", the first game (released in 2002), not the second one. The only problem with that game is that it emphasizes combat far too much and is too fast-paced. Life is Feudal (forest village)'s concept with slow build-up with survival/craft is perfect in and of itself, it reminds me of Knights and Merchants from 1998.
As for the suggestion of factions you could make one faction better at for example anything that has to do with the sea, and another faction better with hunting and food, and another one better with building/craftsmanship. Each one with unique strenghts in such a manner that they can utilize different means to make room for greater variations in tactics and strategies.
Regardless of what you decide to do, it's imperative to reach some sort of end at some point, otherwise people will grow bored out of their skulls. Keep up the good work guys, looking forward to the updates!