@Kri I know, and I just gave up on realistic vacuum exposure in ER. ER has cinematic explosive decompression, ostensibly that's how Piecewise want it, so that's it. MCP creation was the best Pyro could convince him on this matter.
@Hapah Repeat with me. There is no power creep, only scientific advancement. There is no power creep, only scientific advancement. There is no power creep, only scientific advancement.
Does it still trouble you? Repeat this mantra daily, and you will be free of your affliction.
*straightens his medical labcoat*
And yes, it's worth it; those tokens represent the trust that Steve invested in you, so at the very least it would be an offence to him to squander them on meaninglessly, and at best you should strive to find the best use for them for the same reason - hopefully eventually leading to much better mission performance, if not now, then missions later when these small extra spendings accumulate. So yes, being token-efficient is laudable. Tokens are not some kind of existentially meaningless money, they are quite literal credit of trust and confidence in you.
Also, yep, that's the sharkmist. We've tested it, and it doesn't eat you. Moreover, it is declared safe to wear at all (by Steve/ARESTEVE, and they know their shit), which cannot be said of grey-goo-capable brands of sharkmist (those are all Apocalypse Lab material at best, absolutely not available to public).
It works better than CD longcoat against lasers (and kinetic weapons too, but that is less) so it is the logical replacement of cheap ARM armor.
It is yet to eat anyone or anything at all.