Welcome to the Wasteland!
Yeah, the vaults sometimes being too close is an issue that right now I cannot fix, there is no way (or at least easy way) that I can tweak feature spacing, or mapscript them, I don't have the expertise. (You could consider it a 'broken' start, or just press on to the next vault regardless)
As a Vault civ(Enclave, Mutant, BoS), you have to found on vaults, it won't let you settle anywhere else, Vaults do give extra yields in the cross, I gave non-Vault civs a bonus building with these in their cross, but not Vault Civs (They probably should get something though.. makes sense right?) I am not sure what though...
Maybe something like a 'Neighbouring Vault' Building that gives a bunch of extra yield/commerce output or something...
As for your 'nit-pick', why should I reward you for not looking hard enough!! What you think in the Apocalypse they are just giving science and money away!! Should I put up a big neon sign for you!!! This is the wasteland! Life is Hard! Get used to it or die in the dust like a dog!!
That being said, I do keep thinking about putting back in the fury road goody hut bunker graphic, I just never got around to it. I do want to make more 'reward' tiles in the future, things that can be used or pillaged for a 1 time reward.
Right now I am trying to fix some bugs with the spawning system that Archid moved from the python to the .dll, unfortunately he is not around at the minute, so I can't just go 'Archid make it wooooork!!!!

' So I have had to ask some of the others for help, and try to remember how to compile the .dll (It has been a while and I forgot.. so more headaches relearning that..)
But before I discovered that problem, I was starting on reworking the civics and trait system, (as seen the in A6 plan thread and civics thread).
So I continue to slowly chip away..
More helpers and New Voices are always welcome though, I can even teach some basic xml jobs, if you feel like getting involved but don't know how. (It requires little more than word processing skills.)
I look forward to hearing more of your thoughts, questions and feedback. Play testing is always helpful!
Make sure you play on Noble difficulty. (No others are setup)