How about just removing RAS from ACUs all together. With the ACU investing in RAS has a clear trade off, economic benefit for a decrease in ACU survivability. For an SCU there is no such trade off, ultimately it makes little difference whether an SCU lives or dies to the outcome of the game.
The SCU is far too useful. It can run your economy, duplicate itself (via a quantum game), snipe your opponent via teleportation (particularly for Aeon), build point defences, shoot things, reclaim a base, whip up an experimental, wander over to help shore up an ally etc. The truth is it has far too many benefits which have no real trade off. The whole concept of a payout time is totally moot as a consequence. You'd never talk about the "payoff time" of a monkeylord because the unit has inherent benefits which are totally unrelated to time. I don't see why an SCU should be considered differently in that regard.
I think one of the following would be reasonable solutions:
- Turn RAS into a mobile mass fab, power for mass or power but not both
- Increase the volatility of a RAS ACU (lower hit points, bigger bang, makes it less useful in its other roles)
- Increase the cost substantially
- Increase build time and increase quantum gate build power so assisting becomes pointless
- Remove RAS preset
- Remove RAS entirely