A) Depends on your personality. I like to take all 5 racial techs, but most people would call me crazy
. Pick the one that best fits your playing style.
Organic is good for players with a swarm mentality: the more balanced costs allow much faster construction.
Religious is pretty good for turtles, with lots of defensive effect facilities.
That sorta thing.
B) No, that would be silly. WMG III & PSG V vs DUC II & Armor I?
Races do keep their hull designs, even if they can't actually build them until they research the tech.
C) Roughly 250,000% more
The top 5 reasons:
1 - You get the full classic, unrestricted game
2 - You get MODS! Like having 20 new games for free!
3 - You can MAKE MODS! (and have your own private universe to reshape at will. Bwahaha
)
4 - You get many years of service, patches & addons. Your buck keeps plenty of bang, yet keeps burning all night.
5 - You can become a famous figure on these here Boards!