I was sceptic at first to HEA, but it allows for Venture to get double HVDs and stay flux-neutral without putting (many) vents, which makes it good for putting pressure against enemy ships, especially that with claws (or just any fighters) they can't really kite it.
About agility... Well, my two favourite cruisers are Aurora and Eagle. Venture (AA) is a brick. But I did a quick comparison with Dominator and either my Dom's cheating or Venture is actually handling worse than it. They're in the same ballpark, but Dominator's a little bit faster at turning, decelerating, strafing... It doesn't hurt Venture, though, because turrets.