It isn't just arkhes. The other bots with infinite buy orders would have to be checked too. Maybe the lore has a place in this argument. Human pilots don't drop kernels. Fragments seem to drop plenty too, they haven't been a limiting reagent for me.

Pretty much everything that does damage besides missiles is a turret. Missiles/launchers are their own thing. Very few extensions work for both, only target analysis and critical hit as far as I know.

any increase in accumulator capacity gives the same increase to regen.

It fixes some other things like farming alts for the kill list, the starting 20k nic and deleting spies besides the tutorial farming. They should find a better way to do it, you shouldn't be punished for deleting a character. Find a way to put limits on accounts. Only let people do the tutorial once or twice, only let an account be in one guild only, no kill credit if your logged in at the same IP, etc. Getting penalized for messing up the starting stats and rerolling doesn't sit well with the majority. Be nice to the newbs or they won't stick around.

Some people spread sheet their characters to be the best and they broke them with this change. No respec = no respect, which is a deeper issue. One of my friends is already thinking about quitting over this change. I'm fine with things changing, just give respecs when you do.

Economical weapon usage, probably don't need it yet
Economical armor usage, probably don't need it yet
your going to have accumulator regen problems, need more accum expansion and energy management
I wouldn't put any into general firing, precision means a lot more.
I'd shoot for 4 basic robotics and spend the extra points to get 4 into thelodica robot control so you can drive a baphomet
your going to want some sharp shooting with lasers, but that could be your next points to spend
you can get into a baphomet within a week of playing
nav 8 should be a high priority

It's not a solo game for casuals. Find a corp if your only going to play 2 hours a day or it will take you months to catch up and you will probably lose interest before you do.

Missiles have an advantage in rocky terrain. Missiles have a disadvantage on level terrain. Missiles are the slowest mechs and have the worst theoretical dps (with the exception of attacking laser bots). They are arguably the best with low end tech and arguably the worst with high end tech. Everything is a tradeoff in this game. No one is forced to play or not play a missile mech. It's all rock/paper/scissors. There aren't many laser mechs out there, so missile mechs have a disadvantage there.

I like separation of pve and pvp. Getting pvp'd while your pveing is lame. Don't get me wrong I like to pvp, I'd spend 1/3 of my time pvping if it was at all fun.

Tell the wolves that working as a pack isn't as good as solo. Bounty hunter assignments are a very small part of the game.

Combat and indy are the best two choices.