I have encountered another glitch on a Trolgar start, where it did not appear to generate all of the asteroid bases for me to destroy. I had visited and cleared every sector in the starting map, and the objective list still showed 3 Trolgar bases left to kill, so it was impossible to finish that mission.
I will chime in with everybody else that hull or speed upgrades would be terrific and help with the current difficulty, as well as adding more fun strategic choices.
I got a chance to encounter some more of the new weapons:
Tesla cannon - very cool! I like rapid-firing laser cannons.
Photon torpedo - Awesome, possibly too strong? I didn't have it for very long, but it shoots fast and homes in and penetrates shields, and I didn't think it was being hit by point defense either. I might prefer it to shoot slower.
Vulcan cannon - Really fun to use. Paired nicely with the teleporter to jump close and shred enemy ships!