like bah, proton 5.0-10, protontricks install gdiplus dotnet472 and corefonts. edit steamapps/common/Shadow Empire/graphics/shadowmodgraphics/defaultcounterbig.png in GIMP. Image -> Mode -> RGB. file->export overwrite. protontricks install dotnet472 pauses for user input frequently so you have to watch the install. still some (very minor) problems with fonts and has a notable pause when bringing up subwindows that is not present on windows.

slight pause when bringing up subwindows, e.g. reports tab