The current event has shown how small the options are for exploration + pvp, pretty much its only the astero, a normal ship doesn’t have enough bonus’s to be able to scan down the site’s and covert op’s ships like the anathema stands 0 chance against an astero.
The astero is an absolute monster, it can tank another of itself for 5-10 minutes np which allows plenty time for calling of reinforcement’s.
My suggestions:
Increase build cost of covert op’s ships so that they cost a similiar price to the astero hull.
Astero - 1 mid slot + 1 high slot, this will allow for less cap stability and more neuting power resulting in faster fights and less chance for reinforcement’s to arrive which will result in more good fights and less blob’s.
Covert ops more utility high + damage + Powergrid at some sacrifices to cpu. mid and low slots at a min of 3 mids.