You are not joking, they have certainly ramped up the damage being done, i have neve been blown up this amount of times while running through the story mode, even with the wet paper that the escorts are made out of, i should have rolled a engineer for AOD rather than a tact, engineers get the better ships to fly i my view.
I know right, can't believe it has been that long, i think over that time i may have logged in now and again but never did anything, i may treat myself to that temp time bundle for 15000. ha
They really tear me up on the ground. Not only will they flank me there, too, but they are spawning everywhere on that one planet where most of those missions are. It's a pain in the neck.