diff --git a/src/games/mastervega/VegaColoniesScreen.js b/src/games/mastervega/VegaColoniesScreen.js
index e059285..17d4585 100644
--- a/src/games/mastervega/VegaColoniesScreen.js
+++ b/src/games/mastervega/VegaColoniesScreen.js
@@ -49,6 +49,11 @@ import {
 
 const ACCENT = 0x6fc4ff;
 const PANEL = 0x0b1220;
+// Same navy pill, warmed toward red-orange — flags a Colony/Allocation Focus
+// pill whose current setting disagrees with recommendColonyFocus/
+// recommendAllocationFocus, the same judgment the dropdown's yellow outline
+// already points at.
+const MISALIGNED_BG = 0x3a2418;
 const PAD = 22;
 
 const LEFT_X = 24;
@@ -716,13 +721,17 @@ export function openColoniesScreen(scene, rules, state, e, art, opts = {}) {
 
     const focusOpt = COLONY_FOCUS_OPTIONS.find((o) => o.value === (colony.focus ?? 'manual'))
       ?? COLONY_FOCUS_OPTIONS[0];
+    const focusMisaligned = focusOpt.value !== recommendColonyFocus(rules, state, colony).value;
     pill(scroller.content, COL_FOCUS, y + 10, COL_ALLOC - COL_FOCUS - 14, 40, focusOpt.label,
-      '#e8f4ff', 0x16253c, (p) => openFocusDropdown(colony, 'colony', p.x, p.y), { fontSize: 14 });
+      '#e8f4ff', focusMisaligned ? MISALIGNED_BG : 0x16253c,
+      (p) => openFocusDropdown(colony, 'colony', p.x, p.y), { fontSize: 14 });
 
     const allocOpt = ALLOCATION_FOCUS_OPTIONS.find((o) => o.key === colony.advisor?.allocKey)
       ?? ALLOCATION_FOCUS_OPTIONS[0];
+    const allocMisaligned = allocOpt.key !== recommendAllocationFocus(rules, state, colony).key;
     pill(scroller.content, COL_ALLOC, y + 10, COL_SEND - COL_ALLOC - 14, 40, allocOpt.label,
-      '#e8f4ff', 0x16253c, (p) => openFocusDropdown(colony, 'alloc', p.x, p.y), { fontSize: 14 });
+      '#e8f4ff', allocMisaligned ? MISALIGNED_BG : 0x16253c,
+      (p) => openFocusDropdown(colony, 'alloc', p.x, p.y), { fontSize: 14 });
 
     const canSend = maxSendablePopulation(colony) > 0 && empireColonies(state, e).length > 1;
     pill(scroller.content, COL_SEND, y + 10, 44, 40, '⇄', armed ? '#0b1220' : '#cfe8ff',
diff --git a/src/games/mastervega/VegaLogic.js b/src/games/mastervega/VegaLogic.js
index fe19bab..0764ab5 100644
--- a/src/games/mastervega/VegaLogic.js
+++ b/src/games/mastervega/VegaLogic.js
@@ -2238,10 +2238,21 @@ export function recommendAllocationFocus(rules, state, colony) {
     };
   }
 
-  if (colony.sliders.research < 0.3) {
+  // Deliberately NOT `colony.sliders.research < someThreshold`: the Default
+  // and Research Focus presets sit at 0.20 and 0.50 respectively, so reading
+  // the colony's own current slider back would just report which preset was
+  // picked last — recommend Default while on Research (0.50 isn't low) and
+  // recommend Research while on Default (0.20 is low), flipping every time
+  // the player follows the advice. A research building still worth putting
+  // up is a fact about the colony, not about whichever preset is live, so it
+  // can't oscillate the same way — same signal recommendColonyFocus's own
+  // research rung uses.
+  const researchId = firstEligibleBuildingId(rules, state, colony, researchBuildingIds(rules));
+  if (colony.pop >= 3 && researchId) {
     return {
       key: 'research', label: 'Research Focus',
-      reason: 'Nothing urgent elsewhere — leaning into Research pays off over time.',
+      reason: `Nothing more urgent elsewhere — a ${rules.buildings[researchId].name} would raise this `
+        + "colony's contribution to empire research.",
     };
   }