I would say Frosts are really good escorts; keep a few of them near your ship and they just demolish missiles, fighters and frigates. Very nice in the early game, but drops off once cruisers and capitals come into play.
Warlusts are like Frosts, except better and with a longer ranged weapon. I however find they're not really worth OP for OP as Frosts for escort duties, and are a bit too slow to work as offensive fighters. More useful towards the mid-late game / cruiser-capital sized fleets.
Blizzias are like Tridents, except slightly weaker. Still a good bomber option all game.
Strife is a very good escort fighter, just keep them close and they can help you pummel enemy boats. I find they can overextend a bit too much if used offensively, and die quickly. Useful in the mid game / destroyer cruiser level fleets.
Zephyr is the premier middle finger to anything a fighter should fight. It kills frigates and fighters with utmost efficiency, demolishes missiles, and can help out with bigger threats. In all honesty this thing is still a tad OP, largely because of how quick the thing is. A very nice option regardless of fleet level.
The Raven I find is a bit too slow for my liking, and too big for a fighter. Sure it has good offensive power, but I find it just catches everything, and is too slow to make the impact I want. I know other people have loads of fun with them, but I just don't see the OP cost and the limited wing size worth it. In fights with capital on capital I can see it as an effective fire support option, and being really nice when used with the Gust Wing system, but they're really the only places I see it being used.
Valiants are good, if you keep in mind they're heavy interceptors. They go out, kill fighters and missiles, annoy bigger ships, and don't really do much else. Just imagine they're like Diable version of Broadswords with burn drive, if that helps. They're really nice in the early-mid game, but by the time you're running with capitals and cruisers their usefulness drops off.
Arbitrators are nifty and cheap interceptors, able to quickly get to the enemy and mess up light targets quickly, while the Arbitrator-Z is like a light bomber that does the same. They're nice in the early to mid game, but again once you're fighting against bigger ships their usefulness drops off.