I'm planning to put a reasonable amount of money into mining one or more Altcoins. Litecoin is the obvious one and has a reasonably good market value now but I am definitely open to alternatives. Litecoin also has a narrative and is well described by both detractors and supporters. E.g. https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Litecoin has a slightly negative angle to the description.

However, what I find with Goldcoin is this:

GoldCoin (GLD) - an improved version of Litecoin using scrypt as a proof of work scheme.

2.5 minute block targets up till block 45000
2 minute block targets there after
504 blocks per difficulty retarget up to block 45000
60 blocks per difficulty retarget thereafter
Block rewards in order:

200 Block @ 10000 GLD
2000 Blocks @ 1000 GLD
42800 Blocks @ 500 GLD
(The values below are post-fork in development/dispute values)
The Block reward drops to 45 GLD
Reward for the years thereafter is 50 divided by (1.1 + 0.49*every year after fork)
Total Reward Blocks: 26,325,000
Total Coins Produced: 123,423,900 (including 50 coin 0th block)
The default ports are 8121 (connect) and 8122 (fson rpc)

What does this mean to the layperson? How is it an improvement over Litecoin? What in particular is the rationale behind its features?

I also found this:

https://www.gldtalk.org/index.php?topic=738.0

Which is not described on the official page. I assume that is about the security of the network. Is that not important to include in the narrative?

It is argued that Bitcoin is following a technology adoption curve, but we've all seen "killer" technology be surpassed by better alternatives in short order. So how is Goldcoin a better technology/currency/store of value and why should I be mining it now instead of Litecoin or indeed anything else?