Data Angels: Probe Bug (Fix?)

[Rubin]

I've been wondering about the bug that makes a +4 probe rating roll over to 0. I'm not entirely sure how it works --- e.g. does +5 probe rating roll over to -1? etc. And I haven't figured out if factions other than the Data Angels are affected by this.

If someone can explain what the bug actually does and when it activates, I'd be grateful.

If the bug can be avoided by giving Roze a +1 probe rating instead of a +2, this seems preferable to me. Giving Roze ROBUST PROBE to try to make up for the degrade can be a solution. However, this introduces a different set of problems:

Originally posted by gwillybj (here)
Data Angels unedited:[list=1][*]TECH, InfNet[*]TECH, PlaNets[*]SOCIAL, ++PROBE[*]SOCIAL, -POLICE[*]PROBECOST, 75[*]FREEFAC, 34[*]TECHSHARE, 3[*]UNIT, 6[/list=1]Adding ROBUST, PROBE makes 9.
I wonder, though, if TECHSHARE counts among the "8 limit", since SHARETECH does not?

In SMAC, a faction is limited to any combination of 8 among these: TECH, FACILITY, UNIT, SOCIAL, ROBUST, IMMUNITY, IMPUNITY, PENALTY, FUNGNUTRIENT, FUNGMINERALS, FUNGENERGY, VOTES.
Any of them may appear more than once except the three FungResources and Votes.

But there is no limit to these (although each may appear only once): MORALE, PSI, RESEARCH, DRONE, TALENT, ENERGY, INTEREST, COMMERCE, POPULATION, HURRY, TECHCOST, SHARETECH, TERRAFORM, COMMFREQ, MINDCONTROL, FANATIC, FREEPROTO.
These can all be included beyond the "8 limit" of items. You can include all in one faction if you want (DRONE and TALENT cancel out if they are equal).

These are the additional items from SMAX: AQUATIC, ALIEN, FREEFAC, REVOLT, NODRONE, WORMPOLICE, FREEABIL, PROBECOST, DEFENSE, OFFENSE, TECHSHARE, TECHSTEAL.

Do any of them would count against the "8 limit"? Or would all of them be among the unlimited-but-only-once?

Finally, I hope someone would be interested in presenting the pros and cons of a bug fix like this one --- or at least tell me if the bug is a serious game breaker or only a minor annoyance.