Oh yeah, I'd forgotten about the Star Law trait that you had added. I really like that one - it'll give Will something to do with all of those police units in SFB for his conversion.
Yep, I had spotted this in the TLADIS campaign diary (well, the Police trait, which is similar) and they are perfect for the Fed POL, et all. Gives them something to do rather then be smaller, crappier frigates.
Armored: I think Garland was the one that came up with this; Armored acts like Shields, except that it applies AFTER a ship is crippled.
As an aside, I love the armored trait. It's perfect for settings were some ships are just plain tough, without giving them really high DV values (which might represent a combination of factors). For example, in that Spelljammer inspired setting I posted about on the Yahoo group, I've been doing some fleet lists for the various races. The Elves tend to have high DV ships, representing a combination of good construction and maneuvering ability (they also have the Contemplative trait). The Dwarves also needed vessels that were survivable, but since I didn't want to just give them more high-DV ships the armored trait was the perfect fit. I tend to make the armored trait 'cost' half of Shields, so that Armored(2) is considered roughly as a good as Shields(1) in the grand scheme of things.
-Will
"Ships and sail proper for the heavenly air should be fashioned. Then there will also be people, who do not shrink from the dreary vastness of space."
-- Johannes Kepler, 1609