sunsmountain,

I've thought about including this in my guide. But my idea is more of a decision tree.

Example:
A) Is your population over x or y?
Bx) Do you have a garrison? yes or no.
Cn) Do you have foreign buildings? yes or no.
etc., etc.

It's complicated as you can see. It requires much research knowledge and faithful formatting. Perhaps, yours is the implementable and doable way. Simply list all the characteristics and possible solutions.

When I do research, I try to factor the "icons" so it can be easily translated. A lot of the equations are fairly simple and just plug & chug varieties, but as I have said before, it would be better to relate the the functional meaning of the icons to one another.

However, some values are doable without the icons itself. Eg. trade.
You know which one give the highest values: port, trade rights, roads, trade buildings etc.