Yes and yes!
Yes, the zones should ramp up in difficulty toward the center.
And yes you got it right the entire concept is aimed at creating an alternative
set of goals beside the whole "your goal is the center of the galaxy" thing,
which in my humble opinion is bound to be disappointing.
Creating an open world and then setting up a single linear game goal for the player
is a counter-productive concept. Sean Murry (No Man Sky) had to learn that the hard way.
It is the same with artificially stretching dull gameloops like mining in order to keep
people in the game instead of creating choices.
The devices are supposed to be rare and for players only. There is no need
to give the AI any of those abilities. I had a another list with less OP devices
regarding enhancing/augmenting shields/weapons and protection against
anomalies but i ran out of time.
So yes i agree, the devices are OP and need to be balanced with cooldowns, etc.
I did not bother with balancing at this point because it only makes sense
if the concept of skills/abilities actually gets implemented.
If the devs show interest in implementing this concept i am sure the community would
come up with a lot of helpful ideas and i would be happy to provide more input as well.
Ps: The AIs would be great for implementing some voice acting. Jerry is actually
based on the film Sphere, Arthur on the game "Buried in time" and so on. Although
Emet is realy great. ;D You can find a lot of different references to sci fi culture
in my concepts or did you think the hull strength in the HUD design is "over 9000" for
no reason? ;)