I was wondering (lord I hope I havent asked this already!) but it seems like the more mushrooms my villagers pick the more that pop up. Which is a good thing, of course. And I think I also noticed that when they dont pick any for a long time, less become available. Am I right or am I right?
PS Still wanting suggestions on what to do after the game ends besides letting it run & seeing whether they become so advanced that they jump out of my pc & try to travel to Libya to gain nuclear technology. Besides that.

Could try and start some family tree and see if traits pass down from parent to child. Like hair color, hair style and such.

Become your own Gregor Mendel.

In your next game(s), you could set "rules", like...

1. Get Level 3 Farming last.

2. Get Puzzle 7 finished last (no one dies).

3. Starve people and when you've only got two (or however many) people left, heal them and see how far you get.

4. Never pause the game.

5. Never take the game off 2x speed (crazy).

6. Get all of your Science Tech FIRST, or any tech for that matter (not always practical).

7. Always pick the "bad" outcome of events and deal with the aftermath.

8. Never pick mushrooms.

9. Keep a strict "no-incest" policy.

The list is looooooooooooooooong of ways to make this game more challenging (and fun, I think)...

Enjoy!

ps I know you said what to do with the game after it is finished, but thought these might help too...

Sometimes after the puzzles are done, I make everyone a Doctor or see how many sets of twins and trips I can get (usually not many). It's not as easy to find things to do once the population is maxed out and they can pretty much fend for themselves.