collective get stronger the higher in power rating they go , they arnt meant to climb to easily , they are a low power fighting race with amazing ships already , collectives handicap / balance is that they are a turn consuming race , if you want to play guardian and be a mineral miner dont cry out for new stats because it aint working ( what im saying here is if you want to play a race your own way do so , but dont cry about it )
collectives arnt meant to climb to the top of the ranks and kill everything , they arnt meant to be able to jump insane powers , they arnt meant to be able to chase people up the ranks , they meant to swarm kill pillage plunder or farm so on so on