A few questions

[Machiavelli]

Hello again. I got my copy of SEIV on Fri Last week (I think) and now I have a few questions:

How do you change what weapons are used by ministers (for example, if I turn on Ship design minister and I would like to use, for instance, Torpedoes)? Actually I've stopped using ministers pretty much altogether, but I'd still like to know this.

What are your favorite techs 1-5? I always do Ship Cons.
What are the best 2-5 techs? 6-10? Etc.

Is there a way to stop the ship construction minister from constructing a certain item?

I think I know this, but what tech area do you research to get Atmosphere ConVersion Plants? (Planet Utilization, right?)

Is it worth it to go for Monolith Facilities early on merely for their utilitarian value, or should I just work on upgrading Mineral Miners, Farms and Extractors? Also, I turned on a tech tree visible game just to take a peek at the whole tech tree and I saw Hybrid Economy Facility or something. What's the deal with these things?

When's a good time to go for Applied Research (Research Fac. II)?

Allegience Subverters (inspires clawing of the eyes and bloodcurdling screams): how do I deal with them besides Master Computer? Does crew experience make a difference?

Kind of an arbitrary/opinion question, but: on a purely gameplay basis, what is the best overall race? For simplicity's sake, I guess the question would be restricted to just the default races. Personally I like the Phong because of their Crystalline + massive Mineral gathering bonusses, but what others are good overall?

Thanks,

Mach