Alas, they usually start shooting as soon as I load into the "in space" screen and can actually change the ship power (can this be done while on the ground?) but we'll see.
I'll give this a try. It's mostly that there are three of them so one of them usually has a lock at all times while I'm trying to blast another one. I've never had a chance to play with the targeting either, is it any faster to shoot SHD versus just using lasers on their shields like normal? Is a GRAV hit an immediate kill? Or should I try to disable weapons just so they can't shoot back as much? What is the optimal use for missiles, after shields are down, only when locked, or just fire away?