Being able to buy pillars has completely changed my attitude to receiving dragon ingots and ancient scrap metal in the special quests. I'm also making bronze and iron bars for pillars. My day regen is 27,000 in about an hour and night is 99,000 in 7 hours. Steady progress and I'm nearly finished getting the 6th lock of Gaia hair for the special equipment. Am finding Atlantis is not too bad, but it helps to do material maps for lots of quick digging.
Re food hoarding: am around 4 million, so I keep making more energy and I find I use it too, to have a more enjoyable session of play.