Yeah I ran this argument by the rest of the balance team awhile ago and nobody seemed to care. I don't think much has changed in that regard sadly.
My solution would be to have the AU8 come as part of any fighter buy package. That way we keep the price, avoid having issues with nanobots, and don't end up with armorless newbies everywhere. I have literally no idea why that is considered a problem or a bad idea.
