by Creamsteak
I'm an inherently aggressive player, but I think the value depends on two additional factors besides your lowest draw: The tile you deny your opponents and the number of players in the game.All of my games post expansion have been 2-4 players. Almost everyone ends up with both a full set of tiles and nothing lower than a 2 in these games.
Tiles denied to opponents are slightly more useful with more players. Your chance to draw higher point value tiles is larger in smaller player count games.
I realize these two probably make it slightly more balanced depending. I'd never NOT take it in a two player game. And the point that "when" you buy it is relatively important. It's less risky than building a monolith or orbital, I think, and rarer as well... so competition should be high to buy it. It seems by-far a better investment than the ancient monolith for 13 money or the shell world for 20 materials to me, except for as last turn last-ditch resource sinks.