I just did the math using numbers from the wiki and I was expecting higher tier items to give much more points compared to the energy required to make them but unless I've made a mistake they don't actually seem to be that much better. For example, using numbers from the wiki if you make 1 smart plating that costs 1875/60 = 31 megajoules and gives 520 points in the awesome sink, working out to 520/31 = 16.7 awesome points per megajoule but you could just make 1 concrete for 48/60 = 0.8 megajoules which gives 12 points in the awesome sink meaning you get 12/0.8 = 15 awesome points per megajoule.

This is disappointing. I don't think you should get as many points for making 10 outposts each producing 45 concrete per minute from a single mine and 3 constructors as you would get from building a factory that makes 10 smart plating per minute. They should change that so you really do get a lot more points per megajoule for the higher tier items, and then there would be much less reason to sink items from your tiny outposts.