>a ship designed for frontline brawling rebuild into fast response and long range harassment with a corvet hangar. name it the suckerpunsch.

Suckerpunch it is. This is the scrappiest fleet I've ever used in Starsector, because when I played it to the point of conquering the sector way back when there was no skill to take advantage of D-mods. I also didn't give a shit about the "wolfpack tactics" skill but with another mod that makes you only unlock combat skills and requiring you to hire XO's to fulfill the other skills (some of which have been further improved), I've taken to it. Another mod revised deployment points to make spamming small ships against capitals more viable by being able to field waaay more of them. However, the d-mod "ill-advised modifications" still sucks shit. And anyone who remembers, the "mobile artillery platform" is actually doing OK with the cautious officer. Finally, a use for cautious officers! Ships with absurdly long range that need to be babysat by good picket defense.