Three things I like about the building: 1) there is a queue (so many games have no queue, and you lose a lot of time when you get there at the wrong time) 2) you can increase your queue without real money. I think I have never seen another game include this. 3) you can queue buildings you can't afford and then it will build them when it can. All in all, this is quite possibly the best of this genre that I have ever played.
You save a lot of money by using I want mymoney back before each tuneup purchase. Say you have the lvl 6 torque ($2500) and are getting the lvl 7 torque ($5000). If you get your money back first, you save that $2500 instead of wasting it, although you have to buy the rest of the upgrades again.
I think this settlement is taking advantage of him. Think about it: it would normally be in the best interest of the colony to give him these weapons/upgrades free, but they make him pay for them. However, the only place the money can come from is the colony itself, meaning the colony is paying him to pay them back.
if you have trouble starting the game (too hard), don't buy any upgrades till you have 3500, and then get the laser. You should also be able to get lvl 3 clip and lvl 2 reload, those are very useful.
This is helpful when trying to mine aberrant matter: Start a ways away from the actual spot (10-15 squares) and then drill it that one direction constantly till the aberrant matter opens. As you may notice on aquatic levels, vibrations grow as you drill, so drill far and end near the aberrant matter. This will help you use less dynamite/leave closed shells.
Lots of the building prices and maximum production rates are disproportionate to their usefulness (like the silver mine, way over-priced for just +1 production). And the casino didn't even boost my gold production, which was a shame after spending 500 gold on it.
The foundry is a bad idea. It completely removes all your iron, and there is no way to get iron production above 10. That seems like it must have been a mistake.
Lumber should really have more buildings for increasing production. You use at least 10000 - 20000 wood on various things, the most used of probably any resource.
@joshthesax Yes, you buy 20 iron for 40 silver, but you sell 20 iron for only 1 silver, meaning that the actual conversion is 200 iron = 10 silver = 1 gold, meaning that the foundry is actually about 20 times more efficient than the market.
For people with trouble getting money in the beginning:
Click the green dot in the center of the window --> get $1337
Click "Buy Access" --> get "Something Else"
Click the wandering dot 3 times --> get the "Something Else Opener"
Open the upgrades menu and buy the rocky dirt
Click the little yellow circles in the dirt till you have $250
Go to upgrades menu and buy income (far right upgrade)
Now you have a slow but steady stream of money coming in