re Apogee:
i actually really like the turret arc change, because it feels like a ship that should be good at going on long solo voyages without much in the way of escorts or additional logistics ships. and the new stat changes further reinforce that (even if the vanilla Apogee start does give you escorts too).
but one of the biggest issues with large ships going solo is that they are very vulnerable to being surrounded by a bunch of smaller ships, even if those are individually quite weak. Apogee now having medium turrets that cover its rear and flanks, combined with the efficient 360° shield it already had, should help mitigate that vulnerability. and against larger threats, it still has decent frontal firepower.
range could still be an issue though. even as a cruiser with DTC/ITU, its medium energy turrets will only have ~800 range with anything that isn't purely a support weapon, and can easily be outranged by most destroyers with ballistics, even Derelicts.. i have a couple ideas that could help with this, but all of them would probably be significant buffs, which i don't think it needs, especially with the improved logistics stats and lowered costs. :/
the large missile mount can help with this as well, but it will generally only be either good at pressuring shields, or at breaking through armor, and still relying on non-missile weapons to fulfill the other role.
overall though, with the more interesting terrain effects, and surveying becoming much more meaningful, i'm really looking forward to doing a solo Apogee exploration run! :]