[Taqwus]

Aye. Early game, that extra 20kt could be used well for cargo; it's not like any armor or weapon by itself is going to save it in a fight...

...late game, if you've set colonization on Minister, which currently isn't too clued about such things like supply (even w/ Resupply minister on as well), adding a Solar Collector works quite well if not perfectly (they still *may* run out of supply), and is cheaper than a QR.

By the time your Ministers are colonizing far enough away for this to be an issue, you should be able to also have solar-powered population transports (PopTarts) to the lower pop of a colony pod doesn't matter much.

(And if you're Organic w/ Replicant Centers, put only 1M on each pod, doing so manually, and build the Replicant Center in each system if you haven't already. You'll get vast pop growth for free once a Center is in the system.)

------------------
-- The thing that goes bump in the night