Would you please not double-post so much, and especially not n-post?
How about a psi shield/ helmet. I don't know about the difficulty of creating helmets, but a belt carried shield might work.
Exactly my idea. It's not possible right now, but... some day, maybe.
Each engineer must provide something or its to random. (Unless it were for a prolong war mod.
Oh, but every Engineer provides one thing. Only the order of these things is random.
True, but poor for game balance/ enjoyment, unless rifle and pistol were unlocked at the same time.
Even if they aren't, they will be very close on the tech tree, being essentially the same tech in a slightly different package.
EDIT:
I think I'll delay tougher alien races, or at least decrease their numbers in early months, since fighting big Muton ships with rifles (even with alien alloy ammo) and grenades is suffering. With a number of new races added, this shouldn't be a problem.