True about the cutting corners but I really struggled towards the end with my God class. To be honest, I wasn't sure how to go about structuring a simulation game and decided to just implement as much as I can and not worry about the structure. We're compiling a list of jam lessons so your feedback is really appreciated :)
I agree on the inconsistency with the bad music event. I think because we only playtested between the three of us, we didn't catch some of the less intuitive aspects of the game. One important lesson would be to get someone outside the project to playtest for our last minute tweaks.
I really like your upgrade ideas and that it's important to have strategic decision-making to empower the player. We'll keep all this in mind for our future projects :)