The Horde wanna play. Only need rusty (yet pointy) spear
Seriously:
Shield depleters are the single most powerful offensive weapon in the game and definitely not in the same class as your other support weapons. It should either be Banned
or been given a lot of points.
Medium tech start:
I would suggest a low tech start with 5 or 10 planets instead. With that many starting planets the research is done in no time anyway, and the penalty for having a bad starting location will be less.