TL;DR
Time evolution creates an incentive to actually stall their first Gleba, then invest completely once landed; basing evolution on research progress might avoid this behavior.What?
Basing enemy evolution on how many science research beakers are consumed, specifically Red Green or Blue science for Nauvis, and Agricultural science for Gleba, instead of using time.Why?
Gleba can get very rowdy if you visit the world briefly, then leave to focus on other worlds for a long time. Or if you have a multi-player server that runs idle. This is because many of the tools for dealing with Gleba's tougher enemies, Rocket Turrets specifically, are locked behind the Agricultural Science packs.This creates an incentive for casual players to avoid the world completely for as long as they can, to avoid triggering the "evolution countdown." And once there, it incentives focusing entirely on Gleba.
At the very least, I don't think it makes sense to have it based on the time from when you first observe the planet. It defeats the purpose of time evolution because the player can stall their first visit to the planet.