Question about Main Quest order

[BaronHaynes]

I'm still new to the game, so it's possible I'm misunderstanding something, but in trying to do the 2nd scenario (Timberland), I can't get enough cottages to fulfill requirement #13 no matter what I do. I had to create 8 City Districts in the requirement before this, which was fine, but all of a sudden it now wants 15 Longhouses? With houses unlocked, picking the Settlement deck rarely gives me enough Cottages to make any progress, and I'm burning through every map tile to try and draw again.

Am I supposed to know in advance to stockpile cottages? Is there a way to increase my odds of getting the early cards once more of a deck is unlocked? It's frustrating to suddenly need a bunch of these early cards after they've stopped being relevant and have no way of reliably generating them.

If there's something I'm missing, let me know! The game is a lot of fun, but I don't know how to plan around this aspect of it.

[Ynef]

It is possible to play blind, but of course it is easier if you know what quests are coming. The more buildings in a deck are unlocked, the less likely it is to get a particular one. Maybe you can get more cottages from merged buildings.

[Cynth]

As Ynef said there is also a strategic way by merging: I would suggest that you could merge a sanctuary or henge to collect a bunch of cottages as rewards from them.