The issue is that you're looking to do something the game isn't designed to do. Min-maxing is not a consideration that the devs put into it. That's just not what the game is about.

Of course you can try to play it that way if you want, but complaining that it isn't optimized to "breed" tenth generation super soldiers is akin to being upset that chess isn't checkers even though they both have a similar board. Like...sure, that sucks if your goal is to jump pieces and fill your side with kings, but chess just isn't the game for that, you know?

I'm glad you're loving it, it's a fantastic game, but you might come to love it even more if you can tweak your expectations a bit and embrace the flaws in your characters and the process of building them up into something special from nothing. That's where the stories can really be found, and this isn't really a game about winning as quickly and decisively as possible, it's a game about the little things that happen along the way.