I know this has been discussed before, but, as with most games, more customization is definitely a good thing, especially in 4X games, (probably more so than any other genre). Now, I know that the whole endless winter is the main thing with the story, but personally, I would really like to see some control over the winter, maybe the ability to set it to always small, always balanced, always long, default, and maybe always long, (not sure if the side effects of winter would make that impossible). I was really looking forward to just playing the games, taking over the world and crushing my enemies, but even with the hero abilities that negate the effect of winter, it is just a huge wall that whenever I consider playing the game, it makes me think twice.

I agree with these winter control options you suggest.