Venture - use them as bigger Shepherd, either when you can't get Shepherd or when you reach a stage when you want to consolidate on bigger ships and you still need to do exploration. Unless I'm mistaken it as the same logistic profile as a Falcon, a good point for a utility ship that you can bring in battle. Indeed burn speed is an issue, fortunately Augmented Drivefield or Militarized Subsystem fix that easily. I don't use it often, because I usually do a quick transition from Shepherd to several logistic ships with Surveying Equipment for my exploration needs, but on a few occasions Venture appeared as the solution at hand.
Venture doesn't offer the combination of good cargo efficiency and utility hullmods like Shepherd does. So you aren't getting it for the cargo, because at cruiser speed you want a Colossus; you aren't getting it for utility hullmods, because you already have Shepherds and you aren't getting it for combat capability, because Falcon is just as cheap, without committing you to cruiser burn level.
I guess it depends on player's requirements. If my requirements are (1) ship can go in battle and (2) ship has built-in Surveying Equipment, then Venture is a valid solution. So yes it can be useful.
Don't get me wrong, more cargo / fuel / built-in hullmods would serve as welcome additional incentives to use Venture as a utility ship. On the military side, maybe add a couple small turrets + matching additional OP.
Burn speed 7 is fine, it's the expected civilian cruiser speed.
Also, IMO, thinking about this only in terms of balance or meta-game is preciselly missing the one point that matter. Think of it in terms of gameplay, "there is a purpose for this and for that". Please note I didn't write niche, as the word seems to convey poor value to what has the highest value here: gameplay. I would even go as far as claming: the meta-game viewpoint here can be dangerous as it might restrict one's view to "I want the best", which is indeed an issue in several video game community, especially where PvP fight is involved - and the balance viewpoint is dangerous as is encourage to level everything to a similar playing field.
"The only reason I'm using X is because I want to go with the worst option available" significantly limits enjoyment I get from using X and makes my gameplay experience worse. It's better for me to actually have reasons to go with a more difficult playstyle, other than because I want to increase my e-schlong length.
Let us reason together, and not talk past one another, please. Not using the best does not necessarily translate into using the worst. And by the way, what does
worst mean? Or
best?
Condor vs nothing? What's the worst? Condor brings 2 fighter wings, nothing brings 0 fighter wings. If player's requirement is to bring fighters in battle early-mid game, then Condor is a valid solution, sometimes the only available solution. Obvious gameplay benefit: player gets fighters early if he so choose! This is not "worse experience", this is "better experience" and "early game option".
You want a small&fast ship that can rush/flee with shield up and wield decent fire power? Shrike is the best... well it's the only ship that can do that. So it allows a specific piloting gameplay, not necessarily more difficult for players used to pilot high tech frigates. Players shall use said gameplay to distract, damage and destroy enemy ships. Obvious yet not so obvious gameplay benefit: new gameplay!
And you know what both Condor and Shrike have in common? Both are easily available a the start (or any point) of a campaign, at a low price, with standard logistic profiles. That can't be said of their respective alternatives / closest siblings.
Now can we let our disagreements aside and petition to have Medusa leave it's hideout and be more generally available? I can't remember the last time I used one.
Re: Shrike
Shrike needs more turning speed if it keeps Plasma Burn. Without Auxiliary Thrusters or skills, it cannot turn fast enough to plasma burn away from enemies when it is time to get out. Shrike does not have the OP to spare for Auxiliary Thrusters; it is one of the more OP-starved ships.
I would not consider it a strong "need" on Shrike. I put Auxiliary Thrusters on many ships, but almost never on Shrike. If you anticipate a 90 degree right turn before you need to get out, medium turret will still fire while the ship is in position to perform an instant escape. Obviously not a satisfying solution if you want to fire reapers at your targets.
Plasma Burn is a problem system for AI. AI kills itself too easily with it. With Shrike, it may be okay because it is cheap. With Odyssey, it is unacceptable. AI cannot use the good Odyssey brawling loadouts because it will burn into a mob and die.
Yes, it happened to my Pirate Shrike yesterday. AI put it in front of the large gun section of a midline station, destroyed in 1 second. I blamed myself for this loss because I didn't pay attention when choosing which ships to bring into battle, Shrike should have stayed on the sideline.
Improving AI would be much welcome here: before deciding to use the ship system, anticipate movement induced by ship system in order to build a better tactical situation assessment. Currently AI seems to think "let's do it, we'll see how it goes", which is strange because AI seems to be much more careful with regular movement.