Regarding the Risans, have we considered that the Risans may not want a top-of-the-line skirmishing frigate?
For reference, here's their current ship designs:
Heavy Corvette ?-Now [?m, 990k t]
C2 S2 H2 L4 P4 D4
Cost [100br, 75sr, 3 Years], Crew [O-?, E-?, T-?]
Light Corvette ?-Now [?m, 370k t]
C1 S1 H1 L1 P3 D3
Cost [40br, 30sr, 2 Years], Crew [O-?, E-?, T-?]
with the +1S/P/D, they become:
Heavy Corvette: C2 S3 H2 L4 P5 D5
Light Corvette: C1 S2 H1 L1 P4 D4
Besides the obvious fact that these are shit at combat, the thing that stands out the most to me are these are primarily
courier ships. That is, ships with excellent presence and defense.
When they think that "their ships appear to be falling behind compared to everyone else", they are not necessarily thinking that they're being outgunned. Because of course they're outgunned, since the very start, and they haven't seen it as serious enough issue for as long as we've known them.
I think what they want are superior courier ships.
A Centaur-B is slightly worse-off for their purposes, compared to a nominal upgraded Heavy Corvette, but given the cheaper cost (especially crew, likely) of the Centaur-B, its slightly superior science, and the slight bonus of "that least important stat (combat)", I think they'd be okay with the trade-off.