[Taera]

Well no, i know what'll be "their" objection and i'd have to agree with it. With the extra 7 research levels it would be rather useless to research PPB - at the same cost minus 100k of physics lvl2. By the time you reach PPB 8-12 to make it actually useful the enemy will be in advantage in research and probably even will have phased shields to counter your high tech PPB. The deal is that PPB is NOT late game weapon.

I think i see the solution:
Increase the levels to 7-8 and increase the starting research cost to 10k (same as MB). that'll even the things without crippling the weapon.
Still the AI will be in advantage, but hey its AI