Yes, I looked into that. Unfortunatly the race I took over for is not religious or organic. The standard value improvment fac is not that strong.
Plus the former owner had allowed a significant number of planets, and all the homeworlds to reach 0 minerals. Once you reach 0, the value improvment facs do nothing.
But next time I play one of these from the beginning I will have some strategies to try to counter the resource problems.
Geoschmo