The first platform seems very small for what's needed to transfer between warps and then on top of that the first upgrade in size is locked behind a 250 Research of time, which is not needed as usually have to manually warp long before then anyways, and is another 250 red science making it 500 red science.

I can see if you want to leave the starting platform the same size but the upgrade in size I feel should be cheaper and in front of extend time research. Just a thought.

While I understand your point, the generator update actually states "unlock new features", which is why basically it's in front, and i didn't want it to be "quick" to have. (resource speaking).

I get that 250 research x2 is long, but the main point is to have you choose between "factorio techs" and the mod techs.
Still, I reduced the research time of all early platform techs (first platform upgrade and the other surface), so it's quicker to research them if you have the science pack available, as I don't want the early research to be frustrating also.

as of right now i feel the pacing is totally fine. i think needed to decide what you want to be doing makes total sense, and I am not having any issues from a single player experiance

If this is the idea, I suggest that more science packages be unlocked for the first-level technology. Then I can produce more materials and develop some basic technologies before starting the leap

If this is the idea, I suggest that more science packages be unlocked for the first-level technology. Then I can produce more materials and develop some basic technologies before starting the leap

This is exactly what I don't want.
I don't want people to "lock" the start of the timer, and I don't want people to stockpile resources (more than necessary) before it starts. The fact the timer don't start as soon as you join is basically for people to have the time to get what's happening, start basic stuff so they can go their first warp with a decent amount of miners etc. The goal is not to allow you to make 500 red science at that point.

The whole point is to make sure you're under constant aggression due to pollution while getting science and progress through techs. I know some are expensive compared to other early science, but as explained, that's the point: choose between early factorio tech for progression, damage, ... or take more time and resource for platforms.

I'll still review what starts the game, like maybe I can find something more accurate or the quantity, but still the goal will remain to have it start as soon as possible.

could you just set it to mine x iron? crafting x plates already exists but then people could still stockpile freely

No.
i've made adjustments in 0.3.0 about the overall tech progression. Maybe it'll solve a bit all these issues. Also mod start has been changed to require 100 red science, to allow more flexibility before the countdown starts.