[Alneyan]

No, I don't have myself trouble with maintenance, I am only saying that the maintenance characteristic is currently too expensive after threshold to be a viable option. If I had a problem with maintenance, you are right I would take Crystalline. (I always forget if it is -20% or -30% maintenance in a given system though) And if you take Crystalline, Engineering Sections, Alternate Worker (+10% production resource AND +6% maintenance) with not too expensive hulls, maintenance is even less a problem.

My main concern is that increasing the maintenance characteristic at the beginning of the game isn't currently worth it, except perhaps in a couple of situations. (Finite games mostly, or a game in which you play a race like the Nomads in P&N for instance, and perhaps other special cases) And it is especially true when you are after threshold, when every single point in Maintenance costs 300 points, while its effects are somewhere between almost nothing and -0,5% of upkeep, depending on the hull.

Currently I would only consider taking high values of mineral production, as there doesn't seem to be a drawback for doing so. (As I am NOT playing a finite game. Such a case is quite different I gather) Although I may consider raising Maintenance as far as the threshold, when it is still cheap.

As I was... well, a bit too harsh I believe, I should say that the situation may be the same in previous Versions of the mod, or in the vanilla game, and that I failed to see it then. (Quite likely) But it was this 300 points after threshold that stroke me the very first time I launched the game. And besides, I can only welcome an attempt to change the way maintenance is handled, compared to the vanilla game. (I am not sure how it was in AIC 3.2. *Grumbles*)

For now, I would support an increase of the cost after threshold for the mineral production (perhaps 100 points?) and a decrease of the cost needed to increase maintenance after threshold, especially as they are other ways to decrease upkeep. (200 points?) Please keep in mind though that these are only rough values, and I have yet to fully consider these proposals, with yet other calculations.