Hmm....it takes 'sooo long' because that's how the game is played....I'm afraid if you want a more fast paced game you'll have to go elsewhere as this is a real-time game for people with patience!!

When the puzzles are completed you can keep your tribe going indefinitely, or you can start new tribes and play the game in a different way - buying the techs in a different order and seeing if it's better or worse for the tribe, playing the game on hard mode, or solving the puzzles in a different order.

There are endless possibilities for this game, but it never claimed to be a short or easy game....personally I Like the fact that it takes a long time, there's nothing more unsatisfying than getting a game and finishing it in a day and then saying 'now what?'.

I just wonder what you were expecting from the game - why do you think that it's a bad thing to be occupied for months by a pass time?