Does CiG have an idea for how long will it take a skilled pilot to dock a Merlin to a Connie? Would it be practical to do under fire? Will there be an autodock function?

The full Docking/Deployment cycle is still in development since we need the Constellation flight ready to really answer these questions. There will probably be some level of auto-assist with the docking, but we won't know the extents without both ships setup.