well I don't mind losing at pbw so I'll let you into a few secrets.
Some of the the percentage scores are less "granular" than their actual effects in game, so you can drop them a certain amount without losing anything at all. For example, the only effect of lowering environmental resisitance is to lower happiness. I think it's something like every 5% dropped from ER equates to one percent less happiness. Therefore you can drop 4% without losing a thing! or drop 5% and buy that point back on the happiness scale. Repair is similar. A repair bay III repairs 8 components per turn. If you sell 5% of your repair aptitude then, it will only repair 7.6 compononents per turn (95% of 8 is 7.6). The game can't repair .6 of a component though- it's all or nothing, so it just rounds that 7.6 back up to 8 and you've got a few extra racial points for nothing.
Play around with it. Put a few searches into these forums and start a few test games. You'll soon figure out how best to twink your empire.
BTW that se4 code badly needs updating, but I really can't be arsed=-) Anyone is free to make suggestions or (better yet) take it off my hands=-)
[ May 02, 2003, 14:37: Message edited by: dogscoff ]