[Fyron]

*shrugs* This is true, but I think it is only a minor point. If you increase the cost enough, even racial SY bonuses will only be moderately effective.

No, the more expensive you make it, the more of an effect racial SY bonuses have (ie: they more expensive it is, the more time you get to save with a bonus).

Personally, I think it's a bad idea to be forced to spend hours doing something which should take mere seconds. The way I have described above would seem to work without becoming overpowered.

There are many, many instances in which one would not want to upgrade a facility to a monolith, because it would do no good, and waste a huge amount of resources. 100/0/10 value planets DO NOT need monoliths on them, and it would infact be a very bad idea to build them on such planets (as would upgrading to them).