Also I want to make a suggestion so that alien barges don't take 20 hours of playtime to complete, please make the threshold for bug hunt lower because I've been looking for what I assume is an alien on the outside surface of the ship for over 40 turns now.
Barges is quite big and demanding missions , and I like the map and difficulty. BUT they should appear much more LATER in STORY.
For me they could have similar purpose as a mobile base and have a prerequisite of synonym-device
More to it I suggest to fill them with custom mixed crew
(enh aquatoid soldier, aquatoid medic, aquatoid technician, tasoth leader, tasoth guard squad leader, halucinoids, xarquids)
More over to it, the TASOTH GUARD LEADER could be associated with some further research or as prerequisite for unlocking alien codes and than alien dungeon