I am in favor of making Handwavium terran-only, mainly because of the long tradition of aliens finding the Human tech-tree barking mad. So let the squidleighs have developed their tech slow-and-sure... allowing for a possiblity that they haven't had some of the technological false starts that Earth has had.
So our friends might be less combative than we are, making any conflict they enter VERY logical. That is, their reasons are impeccably thought out, not just: "I'ma gunna kill them thar li'l green men 'cos mah invisible frien' tol' me to!" or "Destroy the nonbelievers!"
''We don't just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat
them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary.''
-- James Nicoll
So our friends might be less combative than we are, making any conflict they enter VERY logical. That is, their reasons are impeccably thought out, not just: "I'ma gunna kill them thar li'l green men 'cos mah invisible frien' tol' me to!" or "Destroy the nonbelievers!"
''We don't just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat
them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary.''
-- James Nicoll