Why do we have to reboot at all?

We don't have and I hope we won't.
If you re-boot, you lose a lot of history and a Cryptopia listing which is extremely valuable. If anything, modify the current staking reward mechanism and reserve dev fund rewards over time equivalent to the lost pre-mine.
This sounds like the most logical course of action to take. Any recommendations on what changes should be made to rewards (considering circulating supply+current price) and/or procure funds for feature integration?
While the price is low and dropping, I think you'll find people more accepting and generous. Something along the lines of:
1) Increase the max supply cap by 20m to account for the lost pre-mine.
2) Fork to reserve a solid chunk of rewards for dev funding (think 25%) that tapers off over time and not to exceed 20m at the currently proposed end of staking rewards. A compromise that allows immediate development and stabilizes the lost development fund with less reward % but same $$$ as price recovers in the future.
3) A governance system in the road map.
Not sure about 1, fully agree with 2 and 3. Together we could make this unique project better!
My suggestion is to get rid of the IOT device. It is too costly of an idea, and very difficult to implement.
I fully agree with this
It is better and easier to make RAIN second Bitcoin
There are hundreds of coins claiming to be "second Bitcoin" and there is only one RAIN.