I appreciate the thorough explanation. That was a problem with the prior build's advancement; you weren't missing anything.
The game may trap the player before the transformation, results, and upgrades function effectively, even while it is approaching the breakthrough state. To fix this, I published a new build that enhances the fragment-to-core behavior, upgrades access, and rounds results flow.
The current objective is for players to break through dust, acquire connected mass, accomplish a stage goal, finish the planet transformation, and then go or upgrade.
Thank you so much for the input. It helped identify a significant obstacle. I'd love to know whether you can get past that point now by trying the latest version.