If you want spoilers, here we go:
0.8 feature one new frigate: the Talos.
The kind of ship that will make your life easier in the sector, reasonably sturdy, and fast, decent cargo, somewhat not very maneuverable but can hold it's own against pirates. That's also a ship you can trust the AI to use well, especially with it's Stasis shield ship system.
Also in 0.8, two new cruisers, or more precisely, new models of existing cruiser: The Armored Sthenos and Erymanthian Boar
Those two ships, now powered by TwigLib, feature a modular external armor that need to be shot off to damage the main hull (except if you shoot at the engine). On the down side, they are even more costly, far less maneuverable and much slower.
And finally, the long awaited Nemean Lion Battle Fortress:
The capital ship is protected by a mobile armor, that shroud a powerful frontal armament. This ship is extremely sturdy, and can take on event a Paragon with the right load-out. Due to the concentration of most of its weapons on the front, the Lion is very susceptible to attacks from multiple enemies. As it is meant for the defense of the planet Elysee, it is extremely slow. As a matter of fact it has the lowest burn rate of the sector.
I want the give a
HUGE thanks to Debido, without whom these armored ships would never have seen the light of the day (the Nemean Lion is in the works since mid August!). So please, a round of applause for him.
The rest of the changelog, while consequent is quite uninteresting compared to this. I'll keep it short: Tartarus got a second, less hidden, access. Now if you can't find it, you don't search it right. Scy post named bounties, though rarely. You can increase your standing by hunting the other factions' bounty that often appear in Acheron. Minor improvements all over the place like missing descriptions and flavor texts. Consequent rebalancing of the weapons and ships due to the newcomers... Complete changelog at the bottom
If you want to learn more about the lore of the Nemean Lion, and about the events leading to the two missions, check the OP transcription and
here,
here,
here, and
here.