At least some of the boxes/barrels/bags we've been seeing are not eye candy - they are resources. Further, they are in some sort of intermediate stage - they've got to be transformed or moved to some particular place(s) to be useful, and they enemy can interdict that movement. This is wonderful, IMHO !!
What we don't know yet - except for the bags which are obviously food/grain - is what kind of resource (and therefore their purpose and how they are used), how you acquire them (purchase, trade or passage of time/colony development) and how they move from wherever they start (DS says it's the HC, but can some of our colony buildings also produce resources?) to wherever they are used.
I am currently wondering about several things related to this "non eye-candy", besides whether it can ONLY come from the HC: Any thoughts/additional facts/ discussion?
Strive For Ataraxia