AdmiralGeezer, I'm on a T-Mobile S5, android 5.0.
Nikita, I think energy and projectile cannons are okay, now. They were cheap starter weapons, and now, they behave like them. I don't think they were ever supposed to be 'cheap awesome'. A lot of upgrades are still really weak though - for instance, laser cannon's damage upgrades seem underwhelming. Perhaps it's to compensate for the instant-hit nature of lasers? Though, reduced range seems to do a good job of that. (DEATH RAYS ARE AWESOME!)
Previously, there was no reason to use anything else, even rare weapons you could find in containers. One energy cannon and a fleet of projectile cannons ruled the skies. (That is, until bolters got involved.)
As for missiles . . . ignoring shields seems to be their thing. It's what sets rockets missiles and nukes, apart from other weapons as a class.. If you don't think point defense isn't proficient at shooting them down, perhaps point defense should be buffed against missiles somehow, instead? I know I have had to do some acrobatics jumping in and out of some sectors to survive missile-heavy encounters. I'm right now in the middle of a game where I met five ships - three with two missile/rocket batteries - and had my entire, heavily upgraded fleet stripped away until it was just me. I'm in the next galaxy, and still rebuilding from that.
I find that in the new balance, laser point defense with one hull damage upgrade is actually very handy on PD.
I also find an increased difficulty - largely from ships with an increased number of fighter bays. Enemies carrying heavy fighter complements have been tearing me up, especially when they show up in groups.
It took me a long time to find death rays and photon cannons, but both of these are fun. (Even though "photon cannon" basically means laser. I guess it could technically be something exotic like a maser or x-ray or gamma laser, but still, some kind of 'aser'.)
I like the increased variety in station supply . . . however, it'd be nice if there were a way to update their supply. Pay money to turn over the stock, or maybe stock turns over when you complete that station's quest.