I haven't played vanilla in such a long time. God the starts are hard (even on easy). With the transponder stuff now, the range that I can detect pirates is tiny and I end up burning supplies trying to find ones that I can reasonably handle. I literally ran out of credits and supplies so I had to start over.
I did have my first joint fleet engagement, though. Two pirate frigates were running from a Hegemony patrol and since they weren't afraid of me, they attacked only to have the patrol join the fray! They did most of the damage and I think I got a total of 2 credits, 2 supplies and 1 fuel for my participation.
Oh, and holy hell there are more systems now and hyperspace travel is frikkin' sweet now. Love all the graphical changes and additions.