I believe the reason we are having a huge degree of challenge balancing combat is because fighters simply have to much DPS and the hardpoints on fighters has seen steady power creep/inflation. Despite taking the time to create a plethora of size 1 and 2 weapons, many fighters now have only size 3 or 4 hardpoints. They are putting out around 2K DPS, with some heavy fighters getting close to 4K+, and predominantly field size 3 and 4 weapons (Gladius, Titan, 325A, Sabre, Talon, SH, Khartu-Al, etc.). All those beautiful S1-S2 weapons CIG has created sit virtually unused in combat, as they are fielded by racing ships or are used by the rare ship like a Hawk, which has 6 hardpoints to make up for the lower size. This results in a TTK between fighters of just 10-15 seconds, as the HP values on S1/S2 shields is exhausted in 1-2 seconds of fire. If we will maintain that level of DPS for fighters, then HP values on shields will need to be substantially boosted to achieve the longer TTK which CIG has said it wants. If fighter DPS or hardpoint sizes were reduced or HP values were increased across all shield sizes, you would be more likely to get fights which last more than one or two strafing run, or 1-2 missile impacts. Similarly, fighters are currently able to solo large ships, with a fighter eating through a S3 shield face in about 15 seconds. The shield HP values are still a problem on larger ships if the current DPS levels remain. I understand that armor will eventually play a balancing role for some of the more heavily armored ships, but again, with ships like Talons carrying S4s, only the most heavily armored ships are going to enjoy that benefit. However, while fighter hardpoint size has seen inflation, turrets on most large ships have remained approximately the same size. Most turrets field 2xS3 hardpoints. This means that when you add a crew member to a multi-crew ship, you're only adding 1 limited arc 2xS3 weapon to the ship, whereas having that crew member fly in a separate ship means you gain substantially more DPS (lets say a Talon with 2xS4s or a 325a with 2xS3s 1XS4 + missiles, let alone SH with 3xS3s and an S4) and that DPS has no limited arc as its on its own ship. If you want meaningful benefits to multicrew, we will either need fighter DPS to be reduced by scaling back the hardpoint inflation, or upping turrets to quad loadouts, upping them to 2XS4s, giving turrets some kind of bonus to range, ammo speed, swivel speed, etc., to justify having that crew mate in the multi-crew ship, instead of simply flying another ship.