Here are some tips that I have found useful while playing AE:

• Make sure to collect diamonds when you are out and about. They are fairly abundant and can be used to spin the wheel. You get 3 spins without watching ads and two extra spins by watching ads, but all 5 spins require a diamond.
• Do not buy badges until it makes financial sense (see "Next Action to Take:" on the Calculator page)
  • First badge should be purchased around 40 parcels, depending on your parcel rarities
  • It is a good idea to scope out a city near you that has a low parcel count to become mayor.
    Try to become mayor right around the time you reach 40 parcels, so that you can get 20AB back from the purchase of your first badge
    (make sure you are mayor at Midnight UTC time in order for this to work)
• Occasionally my ads will not load...
  The "Free" button in the shop will be stuck loading like shown to the left.
  When this happens, I have two fixes...
  • First, try switching between the Map and the Shop
    This will make the "Free" 2AB button become active like shown to the left.
    You can do this quickly multiple times in a row, each time clicking the button.
    Usually after about 3-5 times the ad will begin to play.
  • Second - if above fails - I move to uninstall the application and re-install it.
    This almost always solves the problem for a short period of time.
  • Unfortunately this seems to be a reoccurring problem and so I have to rinse and repeat the above steps (I am using iOS app).
• Once you get to 150 parcels, you will want to save up a lot of Atlas Bucks before making your next purchase due to the drop in Ad Boost (from 30x to 20x)
  • This would also be a good time to focus on buying badges... especially if you are traveling/visiting a place that you may not normally be at.