I really like how the stash rooms have been implemented. They cut down considerably on the grind and make the early game much more fun. I found three or four stashes in my first half hour and used what I found there to make it through several commodity towers. I still have more light scrolls and wooden platforms than I will most likely ever use, but that's a minor quibble.
I didn't explore many buildings after I built up my stock of potions, though. There just wasn't much of a need to when my time could be better spent elsewhere. I started thinking about the kinds of people who would put these stashes together. Some of them would be survivalists, stockpiling the kinds of things that are there already: potions, scrolls, platforms, and so on. Some people would want to preserve cultural artifacts. Others would want to make sure that important scientific knowledge was saved for the survivors of the cataclysm. Each of these kinds of stashes could contain an item that would give a small benefit to your growing civilization.
For example, cultural artifacts like songs or plays could give a temporary happiness benefit to the settlement you bring it back to. Stashes of scientific knowledge could allow you to upgrade a farm or other building at a reduced cost, or give some other benefit in the strategic phase. Maybe they should just give XP to the civilization when they are returned.
I don't know how easy something like that would be to implement, but I think it would be a good incentive to explore more of the buildings past the point when your potion stock is full. What do you all think?
