So I usually restart games of Elemental until I get a materials spawn adjacent to my starting area. That means several trips back to the main menu to start a new game.

After ~10 to 12 restarts, I got a OOM crash, having barely played more than 10 turns in any one new map.

This is the same kind of crash I get after playing 4 or so hours in Elemental.

Methinks the garbage collection still needs some serious attention. I've always been amazed how quickly Elemental goes from a loaded game to a fresh game. I think that's why.