As of this moment I can put down 50 bucks maybe more if my income allows it later. However I would just like to state something to Ron and Noel.
You guys made one of the best games on the market. The issue is that it is a niche opinion and you guys are some of the worst marketers there are.
Don't mean to hate, and you can't be amazing at everything but the reasons the game has tanked should be obvious.
1.) You gave us basically the entire game free, which is great but where you messed up was not adding significant reason to go L2 and then charging a high price for a mobile app. Aside from the people who wanted to play multiple games L2 already appeared as a donation.
This is a super simple issue to solve with better IAPs. And they don't even have to be p2w, just look at the moba genre, people are willing to pay good money just to appear different.
So bring us in new outpost shapes and maybe colors. The ability to change outpost names and even name your empires. Maybe new backgrounds and sound effect packages. These should be super simple and I would gladly pay for them.
L2 should have been half the price, but if you wish to keep it the same then there needs to be a good reason to get it that's not going to annoy the L1s. I would suggest the ability to play a bigger game if it is at all possible.
2.) You guys should have been more active, discussing the issues your facing and taking in other peoples opinions. You don't even have to actually listen to us, but seeing the devs around the forum is such a great boost to the sense of community.
Don't give up on all the work you guys out into this game, I quit for a while about a month or so after you guys left and look at me, one update and hope for another and we are throwing money at you. even if you stopped doing updates popping in to make one post a day or even week would certainly draw more forum dwelling l1s into getting l2.
Just some food for thought. The only other game that can scratch my itch is diplomacy and it sucks.
Also, this should really be advertised in app where most of the player base exists.