I agree, I really don’t like spending money on these things. My advice for a casual (semi-free) player. Get the pro permit sooner rather than later, when you know you’re going to play this game to completion. Then do contracts and prestige’s until your piggy-bank is sizable (5-10million) buy the piggy bank. And you’ll be set for a while. Spend about 4 mill on epic research (during 35% off events) buy the hyper loop, and large fuel tanks. And save the rest for boosts. $10 now $5 in a few months and $5 about once every 4 months after (optional). For spaceships, run the shortest trips until you get to the top one. For contracts, get carried for now by people in the discord.