I think yall might be taking the resource/time costs for granted for an early Psi Lab: xeno biology: 40 research + 4 sectoid corpses arc thrower: 60 research + 10 weapon fragments Interrogate Sectoid: 40 research + captive sectoid Meld Recombination: 40 research Psi Lab: 200 credits, 3 power, 20 elerium, 20 alloys; 14 days build time. Then you still need another 10 days just to test a batch of soldiers even if not altering the lab to work like the gene lab and mech lab. All that for a (low) chance at up to three soldiers with Mind Fray. No way in hell you are accomplishing this in the first month without screwing yourself, and the second month is iffy. By the third month you should be encountering beefier enemies already that you can't one shot with Mind Fray. You'd probably still be better off rushing Beam Weapons instead. And that's without further gating Psi by making it cost credits and meld in addition to time.