Hey, thanks for the feedback! Fixes for some of these things are already planned. With additional features I intend to deepen the strategy, especially by adding stuff like enemies and combat. There will also be more types of upgrade-relevant resources beyond just sap.
Finding the balance between players who like to play actively by doing things like encouraging and people who like a more idle approach is challenging. The Beacon structure that automatically encourages bots can be used to complete those objectives passively. There's also a Leader bot type planned that will encourage nearby bots.