I played this as a kid with some mates back on the Commodore 64, and never really understood how to play.  Now, with my first game in 20+ years, I won easily against the AI.  This doesn't seem right.

Only one AI player mined for Crystite, which was because of a meteor on it's existing plot.  All AI players were producing 20-30+ energy in the second half of the game and selling it all (except 1 unit) for 10 each round.

In the final round I had about 60 Crystite units, the other AI player had 5.  During the final auction the base sell price was 136, and I set myself to buy as high as I could go in the time allowed (got to about 3500), but the AI didn't try to sell a unit, despite it being better for him to raise the final price.