What, geeks? Or physics departments?
Admittedly my senior-level physics classes often had a total student body of four. Of whom two were grad students.
Not a whole lot in the way of deck plans for any star destroyer actually. I suppose it's a lot of work for a target audience that consists of a relative handful of freaks.
Too expensive? Didn't they just release a film with RDJ, ScarJo, Chris Evans, Jeremy Renner, and Paul Bettany? (Admittedly ScarJo is a "bargain" since Hollywood underpays all women not named Jennifer Lawrence.)
2 segments is plenty if the rest of your team has held their attacks waiting for the target's DCV to drop by half.
Of course, a transparent entangle might do the same thing and drop them to DCV 0.
My other favorite semi-cheat is Suppress against vulnerable characteristics. END is a good one, as is INT. Often hard to justify SFX wise though.
If you have to start over anyway, you might consider that mid-career change you've always dreamed of. If you've been dreaming of one. Easier said than done, I know, but maybe you don't have quite as much to lose now.