Agreed. Even the difference between the stock one and the legendary last one is not that big.
You still get rewards, even if you fail the mission. That’s why penalty is applied.
Let’s say that interstellar highway has some kind of space stream which helps to travel with low fuels consumption. Off-road makes you leave the main stream and travel through the unknown space which consumes more fuel…? Off-road is more efficient for travelling by long distances.
This one is in FAQ topic with dev’s explanations of why it can’t be done right now.
Heroware is for basic attack stuff, like spacecrafts, weapons, heatsinks etc. Aftermarket sells consumables, like lives, phase-outs, bombs. That can be changed later so there is no texts for it. For example, skill levels used to be sold in heroware instead of hero academy before. That’s one time learning stuff, it might be put in tutorial.