Yeah, no. Peak Human is also one of the bigger game-changers, *especially* in the long term.
The only thing I'd be willing to draw points away from would be the MK II. Something like this:
[] Peak Human (212/400) - 30d10+55 (98.08%)
[] Improved Warhead (150) -30d10+10 (98.83%)
[] Frigates (400) - 70d10+55 (95.40%)
[] Mk II Suit (500) - 10d10+10 (Overflow) + 50 (Reference Recognition)
This is workable, though I think you are being too paranoid.
I don't see why it would. If anything, I'd expect Sol to be less profitable, because chances are good that taxes will be higher there than in the colonies, to encourage the colonies' economic development.
Not to mention that all the big corporations are already on Earth, so competition will be bigger and harder because they can leverage their influence for lobbying.
So, yeah; as I said, we'll no doubt be expanding onto Earth eventually - at the rate we're currently making money, probably within the year, even - but at the moment I think it makes much more sense to spread our influence more amongst the colonies.
Not payoffs in terms of money, though I disagree there with you too (shorter logistics trail, better logistical support, lots more customers), but in terms of human resources (interns from Earth universities and workers from Earth factories unwilling to emigrate to colonies), PR and security, as well as access to martian archives (possibly).
Earth has the absolute overwhelming majority lf humans, human industry and well, everything. If we are to have an impact globally (to maximkze change) going for Earth is the best and most logical choice.
And, again, it's not worthwhile. Facing a man-sized target with the durability and firepower of an IFV is already puts most enemies at an overwhelming disadvantage; adding invisibility to that is like pouring a glass of water into a lake; it just doesn't accomplish much.
Man sized targets can carry our missiles. And call in support. Ambushes are important part of this too. Besides, again, geth used this to their great advantage (and we could too, by uewuipping spy drones with it). Yes, this can be countered, but thoae counters are, obviously, not commonolace at the moment. This is again about vectors of technological advancement. We want galactic races to be able to counter it, so geth/reapers can't use it. But, ok, it can wait one turn.
Except that, again, we already *have* enough force-multipliers. It's nice to have, especially once our Arc Reactors start spreading out more, but for now it's just not urgent.
It's a force multiplier of a different kind.
To summarize:
I can live with the current research compromise. Next turn we should do stealth, though. I disagree where we should make a new facility beyond Mindoir - I think Earth is better. And we are waiting for
@Esbilon to respond about species preferences.
If we go for energy shielding, then ehat we need is a plasma scientist, or a high energy scientist - that's where laser shielding might be. Maybe a material science guy, but more likely plasma scientist. I agree that alternative shielding is good, at least interesting. We could also look for a specialist in quantum physics with the goal of quantum communications and quantum locking (how relays are protected) in mind.
