Build a Tower

[RogueYun]

The Problem:
Certain areas of the world map are bothersome because vision is very limited. This can be a little fatiging when you have to wander some world map squares just to get your bearings/check for mobs and woodland creatures...

The Solution:
Allow the player to build towers or convert trees into hunting stands. When the player enters a world map square with a tower/hunting stand they get a +1 level view of their surroundings.

[PALU]

Building a lookout tower is a desirable target, but it should require a fairly large investment to build it.
Getting an automatic extra view for entering a world tile is a bit too powerful, I think. It ought to require an action on such tiles to climb the tower. Climbing down would happen automatically as part of moving to another tile. If you zoomed in to the tile you'd end up at the top in a similar fashion as when you've climbed a tree, and would have to climb down.
Once a tower has been built, it ought to be possible to climb it on the local map in the same fashion as when you climb a tree, but with no risk of falling.

[Bakkat]

if biulding a simple small log cabbin takes that long, i wouldn't really get into a watch tower

[caethan]

One other simple approach would be: let characters use a rope (or ropes) to climb trees with a bonus - enough that with a reasonable climbing skill, it removes the possibility of failure.  Seems simple enough to weight a rope with a rock on one end, lob it over a tree branch, and climb up the trunk.  Maybe tie a couple knots in the end.

[PALU]

if biulding a simple small log cabbin takes that long, i wouldn't really get into a watch tower

I'd say a tower would be a fair bit less work that a cabin. You'd need a base of 3-4 logs (depending on whether it's triangular or rectangular) and may need an additional section on top of that. Apart from that you'd need slender trunks for stabilization and for a "ladder". You may also need boards for a floor at the top.
It can be noted that log cabins typically aren't built using 2 meter sections of logs, but rather using logs spanning the whole length of the side, and using that logic two logs on top of each other should reach a rather substantial height, probably higher than normal sized trees (the lower log would need to be cut before it gets too slender, while the top one can probably be allowed to narrow substantially before it gets too flimsy to support a platform and a person, as well as stormy weather). Getting these logs where you need them by yourself would be a substantial challenge, however, and you'd probably need a fair bit of rope to handle that, although the rope may be reused.
You'd probably need to dig a hole for each leg of the tower as well.

[MrMotorhead]

This seems like a pretty reasonable request.  I have noticed that it seems to work this way in a village tile.  When walking into a northern tribal village, my character can certainly see farther than from the neighboring tiles.

Maybe once you build enough for the game to consider any tile as your settlement, the visibility would be increased by one level.

I reckon the levels look a bit like this:

water, open/pine mires
spruce mires
coniferous forests, farmland?
heathland
lichenous forests
hills, cliffs
mountains, caves?