I am struggling with the senior hunter contest!

I am a relatively new to Love and Deepspace. I've been playing my f2p account for 112/433 days the game has been going for and I have just unlocked the senior contest. My p2p account is 132 days old and I've probably sunk $100 into it. I was able to get 12 stars on the previous senior hunter contest.

I know that it's way too soon to expect to 36 star it but I am wondering for those of you who have been able to partake, How many days did it take you to unlock the senior hunter contest? How much longer did it take to 36 star it? How much did you spend?

I am also interested in hearing from those who haven't yet beat the senior contest, how long have you played for? how much did you spend?

I'm trying to gather data for a general endgame progression timeline.

Thank you so much!

Update: My f2p account just got 6 stars on the senior huntor contest and I had 2 lv 1 cards becaues I didn't have the correct stellactrum colors.