Thank you all. I agree, and opted to go with upgrading Portal to Level 2 before activating research to upgrade islands. I was disappointed that although the storage capacity increased, upgrading the Portal did no significantly increase the amount of Humanium and Elvarium I could produce per cycle.
Now I am facing the option to upgrade the Portal again to level 3 costing 1120 each of the Humaniun and Elvariun, vs 500 each to complete research. The Islands only produce about 20 units per cycle. I could use Portal Profits (but only using at lvl 2 not lvl 4)
I have about 250 each right now, and when I get to the 500 I plan to activate research this time rather than continuing producing the slow way to 1120. Any comments on this. I would appreciate wiser peoples thoughts and advice. I wish Elvengems completed all the math on this, but nothing there yet.
btw, I have most islands with maximum connections, but really need 2 more expansions to arrange everything optimally.