This works for me -- it's a modest re-balance that also benefits the AI (in a way that the AI can actually take advantage of).

well, it is still useful for changing the fallen empire defines, I'd say

Yes, only one mod at a time can influence the maintenance defines of the game, they can't stack.

FYI, with the new NSC2 (released yesterday) this mod seems to be overruled by NSC2 definitions.
Fun facts from testing with an existing save:

baseline (no LMC, no NSC2): ships = 455.09 energy; 773.59 minerals
only LMC activates: 275.56 energy; 464.07 minerals
NSC2 activates: 254.95 energy; 211.41 minerals
(numbers now stay the same even then deactivating LMC, which shows that NSC2 overruled its definitions)

It *should* be a global modifier applying to both AI and human players, but I haven't yet verified it. There's no modifier I could use to make this apply to human players only.

do it work for ai?