Thanks for the feedback re: weapons!
Alex, how about considering removing the burn penalty from D-class ships? Would make them slightly more attractive to use, and they're already bad enough in combat compared to the standard hulls.
It feels like the burn penalty is an important part of making pirates easier in the early game. I mean, that's the main reason for (D) variants existing.
D class is supposed to be garbage though. But it's true they are pretty much worthless currently.
I liked Sabaton's idea about reducing the supply cost for them. Lot of cheap, cannon fodder. It technically make sense and they'll finally have some uses even later in the game.
It's an interesting idea. Doesn't seem like a good fit for any of the existing built-in hullmods, though, does it? Hmm.
Regarding sensors, I find it odd that you can't actually be stealthy with a small fleet. Basically, you have no way of seeing fleets you need to hide from if you're trying to be stealthy beyond the shimmering lines. You also have no way of telling if you're currently in a sensor range. It would be nice to visualize how far your sensors reach, as well.
Ways I might suggest fixing these:
Have sensor range at a flat rate, allowing for skills or ship mods to modify it.
Having ship sensor profile remain the same as it is, because it seems reasonable.
Adding a sensor range indicator for your fleet on the map view?
"Sensor range of your fleet" doesn't exist. It's "how far away can your fleet detect another specific fleet". Many fleets you need to hide from (i.e. patrols) have their transponders on, so you can see them from farther away than they can see you. If you've got "go dark" turned on, or if you've got a bunch of phase ships, you're also going to see other fleets from further away than they can see you.
You can see the extent of other fleet's sensor ranges when you're near the edge of the range - that's when you see those triple sensor lines. If you're on the outside, the other fleet can't see you. If you're on the inside, they can. Now, if you're well outside or well inside their sensor range, you don't see these lines, but with a bit of experience, given the context, you should always have a good feel for whether another fleet sees you or not.
Basically: I understand what you're saying, I think, but the mechanics to do all these things are already in place and being stealthy is absolutely possible, and much easier with a smaller fleet. I'd go so far as to say that the UI support for this is in a good place. Might just be something that needs to be explained a little better.
I'm not sure if this is a bug or not, but unidentified fleets seems to have the same grey-blue on the map as the player, instead of their usual grey.
Not a bug - it's the "player hud color". Used for those sensor contact blips, too. Might indeed make more sense for it to be gray on the map, though...