You are right. I am working on an update that will make progression faster and add the ability to buy automation for the CPU grid - each upgrade will give you option to automate one cell (any program in it). It plays quite well as a combo with boosting programs. You get all the programs much faster and will have the chance to play with different combinations to unlock the Research domain. The first phase will take ~30 min to complete, second ~60min, third (new addition - research) another ~60min in the new build.