Quote:
villagers seem to get so much more accomplished at the Research Table for the same "village time."
Yea this is because regardless of game speed they earn and work at the same pace. So 2 hours of game time on 1/2 speed means they will age 1/4 as fast as they do on 2x speed but they will get the same amount of work done/points earned. But they will also eat only 1/4 as much food as 2x
This is true to best of my knowledge. It is more reliable and safe to play on 1/2 speed if you have the patience for everything which some do. I know i dont. My longest running game has not seen anything but 2x since it started and its pushing 2069 hours and im ranked 3rd for real hours played which is why i wish the trophy page could SORT by diff things other than babies born 
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Village Monk
"There's no place like 127.0.0.1"