Gorlom: I wasn't trying to dodge the question; I play on both- easy when I have only a little time and normal when I have more than an hour(I don't like to save-quit). I simply didn't think that was relevant, because the important point is that I'm far from being the only person to voice that opinion.
Indeed, the preigniter is about having the first shot, hopefully disabling weapons or other components to give you an advantage.
I use it to:
1) take out the 3-shot missiles on the boss (otherwise you have to cloak as it fires before your weapons charge, even with the autoloader and a gold gunner)
2) take out medbays before sending over boarders
3) take out teleporters before they can send men over (must use in conjunction with a cloak in order to have enough time for the projectiles' flights)
4) taking out drone controls when using the stealth ship
I'm sure there are many more situations I haven't thought of where having the first shot is an accute tactical advantage. While you could argue that the cloak gives you that first shot as well, with a 3-bar cloak you'll get in your second volley before or almost immediately after your cloak expires, meaning you get two first shots, or *one first, one at the same time as the enemy*.