i went back to this on Saturday night, starting again and not rushing to expand out as quick.
started to click and was much more successful.

i still think it's terrible that it gives so little help or guidance on how things work, how it's so easy to screw yourself over through either trying something, or not knowing what combination of things to do etc. in the end i had to look up an FAQ just to understand the purpose of a few things (and many others are still crowded in mystery), and i've still probably snookered myself in my current game due to wasting stuff and losing lots of jewels on one island.

but i played it until 3am on sat night, then up late again Sunday night and last night, so it's doing something.  Still not sure how much I'm enjoying myself, rather than a grim determination to stick it to the game for being so unhelpful!

Have you learned some things? It does generally have consistent rules, so even when it shafts you know for next time.