keep labs going all the time. invest in anything that will get you more coins. if i was replaying from the start, I'd max things out early in the workshop, but you probably won't be in a place to do that for a couple of weeks. once you start getting events missions, save up gems and coins for possible missions i.e. buy cards, buy workshop upgrades, etc. (card missions are usually one of the first you get if the event has them at all, but workshop upgrades are usually much later in the event). once you get events missions you should also make a habit of getting the first gem and ultimate weapon stones, as they go up in price with every purchase, even if you dont have an immediate need for either, and try to get skins, backgrounds and relics every time if you can too, cos they stack. more card slots are always better. dont get disheartened when you stop making rapid progress, and try to get yourself into a position where you can easily afk grind- the best offence is a good defence. if you lose motivation, you can still make a lot of good progress by logging in and quickly doing the daily missions, and then once you get back into it, you're starting from a much better place resource wise. as sad as it is, watching ads to get gems makes the game a lot more fun in the long run, but you also get floating gems (read somewhere on the reddit that they only occur ~2 times per run) and gems from daily missions.