Lights are expensive, even in deferred rendering mode, from my experience.
Things effecting fps with lighting:
The Light type - point lights are the worst offenders
Reduce the range of lights
Reduce the number of objects casting shadows - shadow maps are expensive
I think its possible to extend the draw method to ignore this when Renderer()==RM_SHD_MAP for say given object types
Shadow map resolution, try lowering
Don't render lights if they can't be seen, lights within buildings can be conditionally rendered based on distance from player if they are not going to be seen from outside.
I always enjoyed games where the AI is just doing stuff, and you can focus on the more important tasks (Settlers especially).
Maybe because I am too lazy to micro-manage everything. Maybe because I like seeing people make their own decisions, creating a living environment.
Wow, really nice screenshots there!
One tip: I think the bump level of the floor in the fourth picture is a bit too high: Like that the floor would be difficult to walk on or place furniture
Great to see this update