Hope this help
A:
Nope, The System shields stops you too.
B:
Tractor beam pulls ships closer. Works great together with weapons with short range and a big punch (like ripper beams).
Note 1: Only works when the enemy ships are smaller than yours.
Note 2: Be sure to add it first when you design the ships so it fires first.
C:
No. The format of the savegame is secret. Allthough it would be great to edit singleplayer games a bit sometimes, keeping it secret helps keeping multiplayer free of cheaters.