The shooting part was supposed to benefit from upgrades bought for the resources gained in the Recycler part. New weapons, different shields, possibility to donate the water and biomass to the planet to improve their population etc. were supposed to bring variety to that otherwise repetetive gameplay. Some of these upgrades are technically already implemented, but there was no time to create the UI for you to buy them.
There should be definitely more animation and fluff to the game events, yes.