I think you finally struck a decent balance between dependancies and cost, I wouldn't mess with that too much more for the moment. Instead, you should focus on making the early game a little easier. It takes a lot of footprint to get your first system, and the amount of land is very little. I believe if you add an acheivement system that boosts the various resources, that might help out the grindiness at the beginning of the game. Just my 2 cents though, great game so far. I look forward to it's future.
I think network 4-9's bonus star "don't cross the signals" is impossible. I've tried every possible combination I can think of, unless I missed something.
 "First Empire"){kind=icon}
 "IdleByte"){kind=icon}
 "Transmission"){kind=icon}
 "Legend of the Void 2"){kind=icon}