Before I forget, some comments on the new ships and some tweaks, plus commentary after I retired the game.
Atlas 2: It certainly fits the pirates. As for using it myself, it is a pain to use with low OP and mounts as awkward as an Apogee. It is beefy enough (compared to cruisers) that I could use one if it is the very first capital I find, but it would probably get replaced as soon as I find a real capital like Conquest.
Prometheus 2: While sub-par compared to proper warships of its size, it is better than Atlas 2, and this one is not too bad for player use. It is sort of a weird low-tech blend between Odyssey and a Blackrock ship. One of my favorite loadouts is two Heavy Autocannons and two Tachyon Lances. The sort of loadout I could only do with Karkinos from Blackrock. Like Odyssey, fighters tend to be escorts, namely Xyphos or Mining Pods.
Needlers: With better flux efficiency, Heavy Needler is great. High DPS, good efficiency, good all-around stats. Only drawback is 15 OP cost, but the cost is often worth it (I sometimes prefer two Heavy Needlers over three Heavy Autocannons). Despite better flux efficiency than before, I still do not see the point of Light Needler if Railgun is an option. Light Needler is only marginally more efficient than Railgun, but costs 2 more OP for nearly identical performance. Given a choice between Light Needler and Railgun, I find myself picking Railgun every time. Light Needler only gets used if I have the needlers but not railgun.
More comments about my last game: Game practically ended by 216. A new faction named Star One (in honor of the Space Metal album), with four prosperous size 7 colonies, self-sufficient aside from drugs and organs, but no problem, right? ("There is no pain and much to gain, but then the drug destroys their brain!")
During that one fork when I played with alpha cores, it took five in-game years (from 216 to 221) with max growth to grow the colonies from size 7 to size 8. I was only inspected twice by Hegemony during those five in-game years. With Pathers bugged as they are, there is absolutely no reason not to abuse alpha cores and build up as many colonies as you find alpha cores. If I did that and totally forsook Industry and Planetary Operations, I would have had enough skill points to get all of the combat skills I wanted and maybe max Officer Management. Getting colony skills mostly for babysitting mitigation seems very sub-optimal, but only because there is no effective punishment for abusing alpha cores.
My last fieet composition was the following: 1 Paragon, 1 Astral, 1 Conquest, 1 Doom, 2 Eagle (XIV), 2 Falcon (XIV), 2 Heron, 2 Mora, 3 Apogee, 1 Harbinger, 3 Afflictor, 1 Tempest, 1 Prometheus, 1 Colossus, 1 Shepherd, and 4 Ox.
Paragon was flagship. Officers in Astral, Doom, and the two Eagles.
Paragon, Astral, and Doom were my A-team, and Conquest was backup. Eagles and Falcons were long-range suppressors. Herons did carrier stuff. The Mora were half combat carrier, half survey ships. Apogee were brought mostly for surveying and hauling, but they were pressed to fight at times. The smaller phase ships were piloted by me when it was time for cheese kills (AM blaster Harbinger against small ships, Reaper Afflictor against big things). Tempest was for the rare times I wanted to kill fleeing civilians in a pursuit personally.