Am I missing something or is there really no reason to prestige? You get the 1% per 25 dust bonus before restarting, and no other bonus when you do, so....am I missing something?
If you're going to have pirates destroy your resources early in the game, reduce the cost of building subsequent ships. In other words, the cost of the ship should be tied to the net amount possessed, not the gross amount built. FYI - real life economics don't actually work that way - generally, the more your build of something, the LESS it costs to build subsequent items of the same make and model because of discovered efficeinces of construction.
It's frustrating that you can't predict when the upgrade robot will come by, so you have to hope that you've got whatever 3 random items it want clogging up your barter space. Maybe upgrades could be done at the end of the day, perhaps at higher cost?
Very fun, if short, game. The survival mode is great, with the enemy slowly but inevitably ramping up their squad size from raiding party to actual hordes of orcs and skeletons! wonderful.
You need a little patience. Buildings will only upgrade if you have the ressources and if there is demand for them.