I think at this stage in the game the most important 'work' for us testing the game, or at least an ideal achievement we could make, is finding enough collaboration to see 2 or 3 large-scale towns 15 or so inhabitants each starting to trade things. A stage where there is an in game economy, which there can be... and perhaps organised battles rather than such random raids as clearly there needs to be some adjustments (authority etc).
There's plenty of time until release, I think we should make something to be proud of to demonstrate what endless possibilities await in the full version. I'm currently working with a group of people and something really cool is being done, I can't wait to see it progress, but I can't help thinking what it would be like if there was 1 or 2 other towns like it.