Hi soulieberlin!
Here is a bit of an update that aims to alleviate some of the issues you brought up.
For the next update I added starting resources multiplier options 1x 2x 3x which should help with the early game.
I also removed the cost restriction on colony development, which now allows the player to go into debt when paying for colony development, to solve the issue of unable to pay for needed development. In reality most of governmental developments are based of debt so it is not so farfetched.
I also added Governor feature to help automate colony development, with options for specialization as well as budgetary constraint that allows the player to stay in control.
If you have any other ideas just let me know!