Thanks! Yeah I think it was a little over-ambitious for a jam game. It was hard to find the right balance of the strategic layer having enough happening to not be boring, but at the same time not being overwhelming, and I guess that's the sort of thing that just takes time and playtesting to get right (so never going to happen in a jam).
If you feel like continuing, the resources can be sold for money, but their main purpose is to chain into building other improvements that eventually unlock structures to improve your defensive ratings and prevent alien attacks. The ultimate goal is to make enough credits to expand into every territory.