What if we add another stage to the auction where u can spend money into R&D? Everyone ca raise their bar as if they are going to buy a resource bt when timer ends tat cash is spent to research new technology.
I was thinking for every 1000 spent in R&D you would get a random bonus. You can only get 1 per round and lets say that it takes 1 turn to produce.
Some ideas for bonuses:
Food capsules - for purposes of consumption, each food u have counts as 2.
Glass drill bit - Production of crystals on one of your plots is doubled/trippled but then breaks
Bat-lizard spray (etc) - Protects u from one form of bad event
just a quick jot down of some ideas... gotta gt back to my game

Please add suggestions on idea or types of inventions.
thanks