2000AD [2000AD Gimped non-Judge Psionics?

I've had a game running for about three months (every other week with a few breaks). At the start one of my players rolled psychic powers for his mutation. We both were pretty excited to see how they would work in the system and continued on. After the first two sessions (one heavy RP, one heavier combat) I allowed my players to assess their first build and make tweaks now that we all had more experience in the system. My psychic player completely reworked his character into a psyker. He rolled just above average for his power pool and we went on our merry way. A few heisty type missions and all was well, until Friday. Friday my players had to answer for the events set in motion, a block war, and it quickly became the most combat laden session of our campaign. It quickly became known that his abilities were one trick ponies, and that his psy pool wasn't going to let him stay in the fight for long.

This brings me to two questions, the first being "Will psionic/psychic powers be addressed in a supplement (Cursed Earth?) soon? Why are psionics, like many other things, so heavily bent in the judges favor? Judges have four classes that provide PSI, all that also provide WIL. This of course lumps in rookie with it's four +1's to any. Psyker only gets PSI.

I would appreciate some help and feedback for designing an additional class for civ/perps to take as a more advanced psyker that provides relevant stat increases and isn't overpowered.

Speaking of overpowered, can we discuss the Tap NPC? I hate to make a second thread, the Tap on Pg245 punches far above a 5D6 NPC. That or I just manage to make them deadly for a party of 4 6D6 PCs. A single Tap was able to down, nearly killing, two party members and was only defeated because I decided a TPK wasn't fair and had it's kevlar coat destroyed during the fight letting my PCs even damage it significantly. I thought two petty criminals (4D6) and a Tap (5D6) would be an easy challenge for my PC's (6D6), 13 vs 24. Did I evaluate the challenge incorrectly?

Ergokinesis tree (pg 81-82) attacks all say PSI vs. DEFENSE. Which defense? Other abilities clearly say which defense they want to attack, checks and attacks on pg 80 says a PSI vs. Ranged, Melee, Vital, or Mental attack is required for unwilling targets. To me implying that all of those are relevant defenses. The same question comes up for Telekinetic Shield, +3 DEFENSE, which? All of them? The rogue psyker NPC gets it to all of them.

I know a few of my questions today could be cleared up by just making my own judgement call and using the rule of DM. However, I want to understand what the intent in the book was looking for before I can just throw out what is probably balanced to make the rules clearer. Thanks for your time.

Cursed Earth delves into Mutants in much more detail. Psionics, I believe, will be focused on heavily when Judge Death and Anderson show up and we detail the Psi Division a bit more.

The Tap shouldn't be that much of a challenge to four 6d6 characters. I've used them a fair bit in my games, and haven't had that happen. They are quite tough, but rolling 6d6 (average roll 21) vs. its very low RANGED DEFENCE of 10 should leave plenty of room for exchanging attack dice for damage. Especially if the PCs get themselves some extra dice by aiming, setting up a crossfire, higher grade, etc.

Ergokinesis is a ranged attack, so RANGED DEFENCE. Generally, the DEFENCE is based on the nature of the attack.

I'd note that having four careers (not classes!) which provide PSI or a thousand careers which provide PSI isn't more powerful than having one career which provides PSI. You can take a career multiple times, and you can't take more than one career at a time, so taking four different careers is no more powerful than taking one career four times. Psykers don't get a WIL bonus (but you can spend XP on WIL if you want) but they do get a LUC bonus, and that's quite powerful.

Rules for precognition psi skills and exploits are in The Judge Child Supplement. There are also a couple of Races added which get an initial bonus to the PSI attribute.