[Mzyxptlk]

1, 2, 3 all look reasonable to me.

4 is a bit premature. Stats can be balanced, there's no reason to restrict the stats maker's freedom so early in the process. It won't be a huge deal if the the new race is underpowered or overpowered for a couple of rounds until we learn how to balance them properly. It happened with Etd and it all worked out in the end.

In addition, I don't believe that guaranteed reflected damage will be as big an issue as you think. Most battles are fought in the bcalc, with the loser simply recalling. Almost every battle (that isn't a plain dumb crash) that actually takes place is one in which both sides kill some of the opponent's fleet. Adding reflected damage into the mix doesn't really change much: if the bcalc shows that more ships are destroyed because of damage reflection, people will be aware of that in advance, and as before, they can recall if the losses are too high.

5 is pointless. Cheaper ships just means more ships for everyone, and changing the amount of value spent resources are worth just means more value for everyone. If you want to compensate for bloodier battles (though I maintain that there will be no significant uptick in value destroyed), fiddle with salvage instead.

I find it hard to believe 6 is an actual problem. Strings can be escaped. It's a really minor point, though.

As for 7, keeping in mind that EMP will never be reflected because of the inits involved, what is the problem you're trying to solve?