I must admit that I was not convinced at all about the further (at the time I quitted paused) development of this game. Nevertheless, the Ship Armor adjustments gave me new hope for this game, because they are also good for new players, something this game has not plenty of.
The first advantage is, that pilots in Draconis can enjoy the best possible armor (except Parsecs/X-Ships) while they are still on their story missions. If you just hang around in the orbit while others complete your missions, this does not matter, but for those players who actively participate on these missions or even try them alone or to those who like to seek rare blueprints and have more than one ship per system, it is a huge quality of life adjustment.
Not to mention the increased Methanoid-Armor on Draconis ships, which sadly can no longer be used for Draconis missions, but makes the first weeks in Sirius without an appropriate ship fair bit less dangerous. I just wanted to add, that from my experience, the best ships (except Parsec-class ships with at least Sirius-Armor) to get started in Sirius are the Tank(best survival), the Engineer(most useful when in group) or the Defender(most useful when alone), the other three offer low hp, low damage and low defense tools. But that is not part of this discussion.
About PvP, I think that with the introduction of Ancient Strong tech and the reduction of ship armor relative to damage dealt by weapon techs and hostile NPCs (to make Sirius a content only for groups of players) , there is, if you take the time before Sirius, which is a long time ago, as reference, an imbalance between the weapon power and armor which results in duels, where the one who has no stun or no defensive tools to survive until it is over (or to ignore it completely), or the one with more luck (if using rockets without aim computers) or the one with always hitting weapons who does not need luck, wins. Regarding CQs, it results in so much damage that there is no time for the healing mechanics to get to work (all healings in PG are HoT (Heal over Time) and not instant) and perforators on AoE-damage users which make shields on low hp ships less effective than before.
I did not have much CQ- or duelling-experience in the last time, therefore I do not claim to be correct. This is just my point of view about PvP in Pirate Galaxy which caused me to focus on the PvE part of the game.
Regarding instant heals: Do you have that feature planned for Tau Ceti ships? There is sustained damage (Blasters, Attack Droids, Thermoblasts, to a certain point also Sniper Blasters and Rockets) and sustained heal (every existing heal aka Repair Droid, Target Repair, Repair field, Repair turret) und burst damage (Aggrobomb, Sticky Bomb, Mines, Orbital Strike), but no burst heal. There are burst shields, but there is no burst heal.
