I'm thinking a real time game will be best. I sort of want it to be playable by my kids (9,6,4) and they are now used to real time games. (A turn is an internal game measure of time).

The catterpillar 'thing' is an idea of finding the right level of balance. Too many caterpillars will cause too much damage but at the same time you want a few of them around for the bonuses they can deliver when they turn into a butterfly. This sort of gives an alternate dimension tot he game where you have a serious choice to make.

In city building game you typically have an amount of money to 'buy and build' buildings on the map. So you click on a 'fairy house' from the pallette which then takes a 100 money from your balance. You click on the map where you want the house to be and it either immediatly becomes a house of it looks ike the house is being built (grown maybe in this case).

Havn't given all that much thought to the misson goals but some could be - have X fairies, grow Y flowers, produce Z butterflies etc.

Thanks Traveller - You have sort of helped me get my ideas in line Have you ever played a game like Zeus/Caesar?