I find the Doom the most fun to fly of the three, but I find phase to have too little action to be really interesting to me as a pilot. The time dilation is a great mechanic to see from the outside, but from the perspective of the dilated ship it just takes forever to get to the next bit of action. IMO at least. From a balance perspective I find the smaller phase ships annoying: they are far too powerful in player hands - a boring "I Win!" button instead of engaging gameplay.
In allied AI hands they aren't all that useful for their costs and risks/inconsistencies - some battles they perform well and get several kills, other battles they score 0 hits and CR themselves out attempting to fight a hound. Not to mention their propensity to randomly explode when getting kills. In my own fleet, I would
love to have standard-non phase ships with the same ship systems as support units.
They are very nice in enemy fleets as opponents: the times when the perform well stand out, making them occasionally quite dangerous and tricky foes that demand attention. Enemy ships blow up all the time, so if one randomly dies its a nice surprise than a problem. At the same time, there are counters (interceptors) that I can bring in my fleet to deal with them (agency = good!). So while I dislike them either to fly myself or as ships in my fleet, they are fun to fight against and good additions.
Well the answer to that is to kill bounties more efficiently. If you can use less/cheaper ships, eventually the cost to get to the bounty is much less than the raw salvage from the fight, and the reward is pure profit on top.
I mean obviously - but there's only so sufficient you can be when lugging the 4-5 capital ships necessary to take on a fleet of 6+ opposing capital ships for a $300,000 reward.
You don't have to bring any capitals. Several chain deployed Afflictors for player + mostly cruiser based fleet is enough to win without taking losses (well maybe one or two of distraction Omens). Fleets with tons of capitals have relatively few and often low level officers, so they are not as strong as they look.
Still, previous version didn't require such extreme Afflictor (ab)use.
This version doesn't require it either. While pirate and ludd bases are much MUCH easier for the same payout, the fights are quite doable, giving more than it costs to get to them/engage in salvage on top of the full reward.
Player can increase a ship's worth up to 1100%, if piloted well and with combat skills. Player-piloted capital ship can easily be worth an entire AI fleet. Even if you don't achieve this peak performance, AI still sort of expects the player to take the risk.
Above all that, combat is the most fun activity in the game and you lose out a lot by not participating in it.
While 1100% is a very specific number that I'm not sure I'd use, I am 1100% on board with the sentiment here: player piloting is both extraordinarily powerful and fun.