Thanks for the explanation and especially the example, will try to work more examples into the --help files to help others. The concepts aren't that difficult even for me to eventually understand, but an example goes a long way.
Actually what also helped a lot, when running sce-import -d lxterminal , for example, the first message is 'choose the SCE you want to use as a dependency of lxterminal'. That kind of threw me, BUT later after selecting dependency(s), the screen briefly flashes this before starting the import and scrolling off screen: 'the below (selected) SCEs in your SCE directory will be used as to provide dependencies for lxterminal'. For my brain 'to provide dependencies FOR lxterminal' were keywords, then it made sense.
Just completed a test, now i see the magic of incorporating a dependency, imported stand alone:
terminator 65mb
lxterminal 35mb
Running sce-import -d lxterminal and selecting 'terminator' as dependency, now lxterminal is only 192kb !
Also loading lxterminal now also obviously loads terminator, two terminals to choose from
Thanks again, everything works well.