I can't answer for Kannon, but from my experience it's extremely easy to get wrecked by an unexpected missile or hellbore round. Keeping tracks of everything during small skirmishes is easy enough, but in a bigger battle when there's more missiles than usual, the slightest mistake usually mean an instant death. It doesn't help that i can't get my carrier to reliably repair me when i need it, sometimes the repair drone doesn't want to appears, even if the carrier is relatively far away from an enemy.
Anyway, i played a short campaign with the ArmaA Nexerelin start. The Einhander is pretty nice to fly, although i have to say it feels much more like a toy than an actual combat ship. While it's fairly mobile and not that fragile, it really lacks firepower. It works more like a heavy fighter than a frigate, very good against other fighters and other frigates, and occasional lightly armored destroyers. But that's it, it's relatively helpless against something with a modicum of armor. Yes, the Glaive is a thing specifically made for that, but the slow rate of fire and limited ammo merely makes it an "okay" weapon. An extremely good weapon for a fighter, but not really for a frigate, and in a campaign, i rapidly needed something that could deal some real damage.
This is where my biggest "issue" lies, and why i consider the Einhander a toy. It's nice to fly, it can fight, but it'll become obsolete the moment you have access to a halfway decent frigate. Mind you, i'm not asking for a buff, the Einhander being just a playable fighter is fine. But given its is the poster boy and "main" content of the mod, it allows for only very little replayability. Of course, it's a fairly young mod, with limited content yet, but in it's current stat, i wouldn't keep it in my folder now that the novelty factor is fading.
Of course, there's more to the Einhander. In my campaign, i got a few carriers loaded with Cataphracts to deal with the bigger targets. The Kouto, while tanky, wasn't very helpful when it came to do the actual killing. I much preferred the bomber equivalent for a cataphract, the Ilorin, which is also fairly tanky in its own right. As for the Valken, i suspect they would combo wonderfully with EMP fighters, alas i couldn't find any in my campaign, so they were pretty much cannon fodder. I couldn't get my hands on a Bihander, but i still tested it in the mission and, well, one or two of those would have made my early game much easier.
As for the Einhander playstyle, i have personally been using it in melee combat. Yes, actual melee. Being a fighter, it can stand over a target, where there's usually no shield coverage, i used the Glaive at point blank range to disable engines, and finished my target with the overcharged Juno. Very good to deal with high-tech frigates like Remnants that usually lacks armor but compensate with a strong shield. Of course, hovering over a target also comes with risks, like a point blank AM blaster shot to the face. Which is why is outfitted the Pila drone with a ion cannon to declaw my targets before i can directly engage.
I won't lie that the whole playable fighter thing left a bit perplexed. You went through many hoops to make it work, and it does, it's quite impressive. My main question is : Why? Why is it a fighter and not a normal ship? Am i missing something important? I personally can't find an issue with the way things are currently working. Well, maybe the whole carrier reloading/repairing thing being a tad clunky. Also some potential conflict with other mods scripts, nobody enjoy playing with the spectre of a sudden crash hanging above them.
But overall, it works. I would be interested in seeing more content from this mod. A Tri-tachyon equivalent to the Einhander, some hacked together Luddic Cataphract... There's many possibilities for expanding the mod.
However.
The whole playable fighter shitck might make the whole ordeal trickier than for a standard mod. Yes, i would eventually love to fly a pilotable mech with a custom loadout. A chaingun in your right hand? Sure. A phase lance (phase blade?) in your left? Awesome. Hammers in the shoulder pods? Of course i'd like that (just throwing exemples here). The problem is : it wouldn't work really well for a playable fighter. Because hovering over a target with custom guns, or even powerful built-ins is bound to be a balance headache. The player could mercilessly exploit it, like i did, or worse, being on the receiving end of it. That issue can be countered by only allowing relatively weak weapons on a playable cataphract, similar to the Einhander, but then it would be also be cursed with the "toy syndrome", limiting its usefulness.
I don't know what's your roadmap for the future of the mod, so maybe all my rambling is irrelevant. Still, if you're planning to add new content, i'd be curious to see you attempt something more "normal" like a non fighter mech, a bit like the Tahlan Regalias. From there, you can see whether or not it works, and if it's worth expanding upon. So yeah, i'll keep an eye open on your future updates.
