So now that I've got a reasonably large Diable fleet going allow me to offer some thoughts on the ships I'm running or have run earlier.
Draft: Basically a Vigilance without the shield, it genuinely struggles to stay alive and/or contribute to a fight in any way unless you hold it's hand and attach it to a carrier or civilian ship, where it will still die as soon as that ship gets engaged by the enemy. Basically a trap for newer players looking to buy their first Diable ship.
Vapor: Hilarious, I'm not sure there's another word for it, this thing zips around the battlefield at terrifying speeds and can put out some impressive burst DPS with it's two medium mounts and the omni-shield offsets the lack of effective PD mounting points, not to mention it has a turn rate similar to most PD turrets so you could just give it a pair of IBIS and call it a day. I like it, doesn't last long in a fight but it's fun to have around in the early days, especially if you can get a good officer in it.
Versant: Oh so satisfying, the Harvest is beautiful in every way, the ship earns every bit of it's destroyer-like price tag with it's terrifying DPS capacity and ability to rapidly traverse the battlefield, though the delay on switching modes makes it feel clumsy at times. Very fun but very rare, I'm definitely a fan.
Derecho: So I really didn't expect much of this thing, I figured it had some token weapons for self defense and a token missile rack for token fleet support, it's armament being purely a formality in light of it's ECM utility, but the large hybrid slot allows it to run with some very useful weapons and makes it something of an artillery platform in battle, with mine running an Uhlan it keeps chiming into engagements just to burst open a cruiser after it overloads. It's fun when it decides to contribute, but mine seems content to simply watch most engagements, though I suspect this to be more the fault of the Uhlan than the Derecho, I definitely like it even if I can't figure out what ECM bonuses it's offering me.
Hayle: On paper this is the logical place to take the Vapor, make it bigger, give it missiles, ta-daaaaa. In practice I find it works functionally similar to a medusa, albeit with less PD, the loss of the Vapor's omni-shield makes salamanders a big issue and the flicker core offers less mobility than the evasive maneuver, but it matches up well with what your average Diable fleet wants to do, spam missiles and run down prey. I didn't particularly enjoy flying it but that's my own hatred of managing large missile racks more than anything, I liked the results it gave me though and I would definitely continue to run them as a mainstay destroyer.
Calm: I remember writing this off as a POS, though I'm finding it pleasantly effective as a fire support vessel now. It's kind of in a similar boat with the Draft where it can't comfortably use any vanilla missiles since the ship seems to be conceptually designed around having at least 4 MMLs, but I suppose you could run a varied mix of vanilla missiles on it if you didn't mind the loss of combat longevity. I found myself confused on how to use it's spinal slots, it seemed like a great place for a Recson/Grave wombo combo but I never caught it actually using that effectively, though I seemed to get some decent mileage out of a double State configuration. I definitely like it, the Omni-shield and tendency to hang back makes it feel like it has a good chance to survive most engagements, and 8 MMLs cannot be discounted as an asset.
Stratus: Have I mentioned lately how much I love this thing? I just simply love it. The Stratus is everything the Mule should have been, it's a very feasible option for frigate based bounty hunters looking for a loot hauler that can hold it's own, the frost drones give it an ability to make it's presence felt that the Mule simply lacks, and it's versatile hardpoints allow it to run a very offensively competent loadout. I always pick one of these up when I'm starved for cargo space but still need a competent warship.
Fractus: I'll be honest, I never figured out what if anything I was supposed to do with the Fractus, it seems to be a Condor with an extra small hardpoint, but the Condor is literally a token flight deck you attach to your fleet on the cheap, the medium hardpoint is universal now, which sounds nice until you see it's spinal and offset on an awkwardly wide frame, which basically limits it to missiles anyways, but the Thrush has made it much more feasible as a dedicated missile support platform. I really don't have any strong feelings about it, it feels kind of underwhelming but then again so does the Condor.
Storm: Oh man, this thing, This thing just can't figure out what it wants to be, it has so many hardpoints all over the place none of which lend themselves to any logical loadout. The 3 forward medium slots all have arbitrarily varied firing arcs that make broadside builds far more awkward than they need to be, rearwards medium slots are even stranger, with one being arbitrarily universal with a 360* arc, and the one behind it hybrid like the rest with a slightly restricted field of fire, the 4 missiles on the side seem superfluous when you already have 8 MMLs, as you don't really need that many Magicboxes or Thunderbolts, and the 3 universals in the bow have the same issue as the Fractus' universal, they're offset on a ship that almost forces you to build around broadside salvos, and they're spinal mounts, so you effectively have another 3 missiles on top of the 12 you already mount, and finally the small hybrids are spread out and relatively few considering how many mediums there are. Originally I had planned to use the smalls as Recsons and the mediums as Graves, as I like my weapons to have synergy like that, but then I noticed how lopsided the hardpoint distribution is and decided I'd rather have more kinetic than more HE, so now I have to use the smalls as Artassaults, which were certainly not my first choice for what to use on a capital ship. I may try using all of the small for PD and the mediums 3/2 as KE/HE tomorrow, but for now I'm just saying that I was thoroughly confused trying to fit this, but those 4 flight decks are hard to pass up.
Speaking of flight decks, on the topic of fighters, I've been noticing that they have an annoying tendency to take one hit from more or less any weapon, instantly lose engines, and then just get hammered into dust as they harmlessly spin around in front of the entire enemy fleet, with all the money I spent acquiring two squadrons of Valiants on top of my Strifes I had hoped for a bit of durability, but the Wanzers all seem thoroughly irrelevant in all situations due to their frailty and emphasis on closer range direct fire weapons.
and as for weapons.
Recson S and V: Oh my god, where do I even start on how AMAZING this is? It's a hard-hitting KE standoff weapon with good accuracy and an acceptable rate of fire, it is the perfect wombo to the MML's combo.
Grave HMG: Another thing that left me thoroughly underwhelmed, the Grave is a fun idea, a longer ranged Assault Chaingun with less rate of fire, but in every instance where I tried to use it the poor accuracy just made it a source of flux for my ship without actually getting me any results, I really haven't given it a chance in cruiser level combat though, so it may redeem itself there.
Artassault: Combos great with a pair of Recsons on the Vapor, lots of HE burst damage with good spread, seemed to compliment the hit and run nature of my smaller ships well, and made it a mean anti-fighter PD weapon.
IBIS: Good, dependable PD, a Vulcan with more range but less saturation, I don't think I ever had any explicit issues with it.
Burchel: Surprisingly meaty for a PD weapon, I refuse to consider it a viable choice for use against enemy ships because it's too prone to being distracted by missiles or flares though.
Glaux: A Burchel without the PD targeting, me likey very much.
State: I'll be honest I was a bit biased against this thing at first but it seems to have very respectable damage output when paired with a second State, it tended to chew through targets at a good pace and the flux was quite manageable, I'll probably start making more use of it in the future.
Raptor: I'd compare this roughly to the Double Flak, a constant hail of bullets guaranteed to stop all but the most shocking of missile volleys, one alone can generally cover the PD needs of most ships.
Uhlan: Somewhat clumsy to use but functionally a scaled up antimatter blast x3, when the AI managed to leverage it the results were immediate and dramatic, if a bit heavy on the flux, definitely a good artillery piece though.
Micro Missile Launcher: Bread and butter, they tend to swarm the AI and cause it to panic with evasive maneuvers, which in turns makes the MM situation worse because now they're behind it too, and so the AI will continue to try and evade the MM swarms and only manage to make its situation worse, a fun weapon to spam.
Thunderbolts: Another one I was kind of biased again, I tend to dislike any missile with non-renewable ammo and it takes some stellar performance to earn my respect...which is exactly what the Thunderbolt offered me, I found my Storm could reliably dispatch fleeing frigates with a single pair of these from virtually any angle, and the speed was quite impressive too.
Magicbox: So much fun, an airburst PD missile, it's very fast, very accurate, and very effective, definitely a compelling choice alongside the MML.
Banish: I...I don't think I've ever seen any of the ships I gave one of these to actually use it.