[Puke]

regarding backup systems for the MC: i believe that the aux-control component can not be added unless you already have a MC or a bridge. an aux-control could be added that also contained life support and bridge functions, and this may keep a ship running that has had its MC fried. call it redundant systems, or failsafe, or whatever. also, a hardened MC with a higher damage resistance might be worthwhile.

just make sure that the highest level CV is able to defeat the strongest MC. perhaps if you added TWO hardened MCs, you would always survive a single CV hit. of course, there is the issue of multiple hits, but they do have a slow reload rate on the CV.