So as far as the explorer sending problem is concerned, it seems to me the culprit is the star menu itself. Just leaving it open causes the game to constantly freeze and unfreeze every few seconds. (this is is on top of the lag in just opening a window). I was just testing it on my game on Firefox, and I positioned the camera near a sleeping mine so I could watch the movement of the bouncing ZZZs. Opening the Star menu caused a couple second freeze followed by more quick freezes that game every couple of seconds and kept happening as long as the star menu stayed opened, even if I did absolutely nothing. Closing the star menu would also freeze the game for a second but then it ran smoothly and uninterrupted for as long as I would stay there. Open the star menu again and again freezes every few seconds. This is why when I try to send explorers it constantly interrupts them and freezes making them hard to send, because the star menu is active while I do. Something in it is forcing a constant refresh.