Equalizer Since there seems to be repeatedly issues with ships starting with full ammo being imbalanced in one way or another:
When missiles were first added spamming launchers with no factories
Power storage powered ships / factories
Now probably missile launchers / storage pre-loaded with nukes
AFAIK it's a good thing for ships to be able to start preloaded with nukes even without factories, and I don't think this would be a balance problem (or at least not a serious balance problem). A missile barge that starts preloaded with nukes has to expose it's vulnerable sides to an enemy to fire them, and spamming nuke storage is heavy, takes up lots of space, and is horribly explosive.
I feel like the issue right now is that nuke storages are disproportionately powerful when used for suicide. Maybe the best solution is just to make nukes explode instantly and less violently in storage? I think that would make storage suiciding vastly less powerful, without breaking anything.
I'm all for a credit cost in theory (which is a lot more realistic), but I'd be worried about UI clutter, more complexity without more depth, and dev time.