I'd just like to point out that CE only increases the amounts of weapons and augments available in the shop. Nothing indicates that CE decreases the chance of other stuff appearing, beside from making it less likely that a certain weapon or augment appears. As far as I can tell each shop rolls the categories of merchandise (systems, crew, weapons, drones, augs) available and then fills these with what is available in these categories (featuring in rarity value). So mantis are just as rare in CE shops as they are in vanilla shops. CE does decrease the relative ammount of events that give crew though. That is intended in order to make crew overall more valuable and buying crew actually somewhat necessary.
It's true that CE makes it less likely that you will ever get the weapon or augment you want. Such is the price of greater variety I guess. But I'd say that even in vanilla you can hardly build a run on hoping to find certain stuff. Again, IMO success in this game depends on your ability to adopt to what you get. Also: CE adds some adds stuff on all tiers. With CE it might be less likely to get a weapon pre igniter, but you gained a chance to get a Teleporter Disruptor or an Ion field, which might come just as handy. Its less likely to get a scrap recovery arm, but you can get a Cargo Teleporter or an Onboard Assembly line, which can maybe make you even more scrap. I could make up examples all day long...
Are there actually any good weapons for CE? I can make it to the final boss just fine but I cant ever make a dent in it. My usual strategy of spamming 2 burst laser mk 2 and 1 burst laser mk 3( the vanillas one with 5 shots) doesnt work because i can never find enough lasers to do it because so much other stuff is in the shop. Even when I have a teleporter ( always) I cant take down anything fast enough. The only ship I can complete the game is in the Osprey because the artillery beam pierces shields and takes the boss down fast. Are there any alternatives? Are artillery lasers any good cause they can deal same amount of damage as burst laser mk 3? Should I pelt it to death with drones? Im honestly lost at this point.
But I'd say that even in vanilla you can hardly build a run on hoping to find certain stuff. Again, IMO success in this game depends on your ability to adopt to what you get. Also: CE adds some adds stuff on all tiers. With CE it might be less likely to get a weapon pre igniter, but you gained a chance to get a Teleporter Disruptor or an Ion field, which might come just as handy. Its less likely to get a scrap recovery arm, but you can get a Cargo Teleporter or an Onboard Assembly line, which can maybe make you even more scrap. I could make up examples all day long... 
