Starsector 0.97a is out! (02/02/24); New blog post: Simulator Enhancements (03/13/24)
Waystations are now a type of industry that increases accessibility, not a completely different kind of a colony. The cap is 4 personally and 3 administrators, but there is a way to go around the cap.
How do you get around the cap??? start a colony and just abandon it? or edit a file somewhere?
Wyvern is 100% correct about the math.
Using Alphas to boost industries seems to be safe (aside from having to bribe Hegemony inspection fleets), at least based on my experiences so far. Setting one as an administrator can, apparently, have some problems. I haven't done it yet, so I don't know how that goes.