I wondered if they might be multipliers when they didn't seem to have much effect. Maybe some info somewhere (or if it is there, making it more obvious, because I missed it anyway) to say what effect each thing has?
In the end, I went back and did beat it - I harvested enough mahogany and titanium to grab a few Titanium 1 axes and picks, used that to quickly get a dozen more of each. Used that to quickly get few dozen Titanium 1 swords and armor, and was surprised to find out I was already stronger than the other guy. Not sure if that's quite the way it was intended to be beaten ;)
Definitely sounds like you've got some ideas to play with though, so I'll be interested to see what you do with it.
And I'm afraid I still haven't figured out a reproduce for the "cant move" bug, if I do I'll let you know. And feel free to let me know if you need me to test anything.