I wrote what I thought was a nice review of the Odyssey awhile back.
Copypasta version: With double plasma cannon and triple sabot pod, odyssey can shred any cruiser and below while also being mobile enough to chase down destroyers and still being relevant in capital v capital fights. With double lance, Odyssey loses its ability to quickly kill most cruisers but has longer range, less flux usage, and increased anti hull/anti armor burst potential. Double autopulse is the best for AI however, since it uses the least flux. For fighter bays, Xyphos (PD + Ion beam), Spark (insane pd), or Longbows (same PD as Xyphos but with Sabots instead of ion beams). In addition it has the BEST logistical profile of all the capital ships and comes with ECCM and Sensor hull mods for free. For the large missile, either Hurricane, or Locust (Squall is kinda useless when triple sabot pod + 2x Longbow + 2x plasma). It is just such a versatile efficient ship although it remains a player flagship as AI is not very good at exploiting its strengths. I left all the right side small energies empty and put burst pd on front and rear smalls
*end copy paste*
my preferred hullmods for odyssey remain ITU + hardened shields + stabilized shields. Depending on the build, I might or might not add advanced optics. (no front shield emitter for me)