@Paradox_of_War The argument of APM reduction is used in various places, and I agree that it can be perceived as a downside if nothing else changes.
There are a lot of other games where during the early stages there's not much to do. Take for example Warcraft 3 where Grubby (a popular caster of the game) is effectively either talking on stream (unrelated to the game) or spamming rally points like a Starcraft II player.
Personally, in addition to these changes, I think it would be interesting to make the first tech more accessible by reducing the mass and build time requirements of all tech 1 units (including structures) by (roughly) 33%. As a result:
- the tech 1 stage starts sooner.
- the tech 1 stage will consist of more units, both mobile and structures for you to manage (this is why we play the game afterall).
- the value of tech 1 extractors during the early game is increased, encouraging expanding over turtling.
- a tech 2 extractor is worth more mobile units, increasing the risk to tech up.
- power becomes a more relevant factor.
- early bomber is less effective, as you'll have more redundant units before the bomber arrives.
That way the 'real game' starts sooner, it's less trivial to just blindly tech up and at the same time once the tech 2/3/exp stage is reached the game plays largely unchanged.