After a little bit of work this weekend (it wasn't as much as I thought I'd get done), you may be able to see by the few help topics on the forums I've been posting that I've been making a bit of progress. Currently I've been working on the ancient era and I've decided that the mod will, as you probably expected, will be research-driven.
But, how you ask will it be possible for cavemen to research stuff?
I'll be adding a few new things with "ancient" things to them - ancient research table, ancient weapons workshop, etc... it might not answer your question but atleast it's a quick-fix for cavemen using advanced computers and electronics to perform their research. (I've been using the word cavemen a lot. Can you guess what era I'm working on?)
I will be reworking the entire tech tree (if there was one, I forget. Either way, it's being reworked) and there'll be a lot more interesting things to research - I think this mod will be about 2500% more interesting around the Medieval Era once religions are added into the game. (That being said, I'm thinking about researching "divine sacrifices" so you can burn your prisoners for favour with your God.)
TL;DR - I'm working on Ancient Era at last, I use the word caveman a lot, cavemen don't use computers and advanced electronics, I need textures for a wooden club, a sling, an ancient research bench, and an ancient weapons workshop. I can handle the rock projectile texture B). When religions get added (vanilla game, not mine.), you'll be able to burn your prisoners alive.
Also, I'll be working on the new post because this one still says [Shelfed]