I do wonder what's better: Letting the player try and figure stuff out, or give them the info. I chose the former in this case. It's an interesting game design debate.
It is! It depends on the game/genre in my opinion. With games like these with so many different pieces and the upgrade mechanic, it would have been nice with a bit of explanation though others seemed to pick it up more quickly than I and enjoyed the discovery! :) cant wait to play more of this:)