I played last night, and endeavored to check the graphs this time.
One match in particular worthy of note, I think... assuming I am correct that the graphs at the end of the match show metal and radioactive accumulation rates (vs. what's in storage).
In the match in question, I took several metal nodes before the opponent (ranked 8) even took his third node.
I had maybe 4-5 metal nodes, and most were multi-mine nodes.
The opponent had maybe 2 metal nodes.
And I am pretty sure I had constructed mines for at least several of my metal nodes.
And yet, SOMEHOW.... the graph at the end of the game showed my opponent producing more metal than me, starting just a few minutes into the game.
Simply. Doesn't. Seem. Plausible.
Not that early.
And yes, I was dominated. Multiple dread bays, and multiple dreads, while I barely had time and resources to build my second armory.
Would be so great to have those replays, so that I could see what happened for real.
There is no way to be sure otherwise.