@ Grievous69: Totally agreed. Weapon mounts on older carriers are an artifact from when fighters were ships and carriers spent OP on guns. Even on the newer carriers, I suspect Alex either expected the old gameplay to apply or fiercely adhered to his guidelines (he considers mounts bonus OP, even if empty mounts make ships look dumb). I want OP for guns be a good choice again.
Best fighters cost at least 8 OP. (Wasps are occasionally useful.) While fighters have a huge range of OP cost, it can be significantly narrowed if the pirate-tier junk and the overpriced (Dagger clone) Tridents were cut out.
Drover, no guns at all.
Heron, dual flak cannon only. I tried classic blaster or HVD loadouts, but they were sub-optimal.
Mora, token cheap ballistics (vulcans and light mortars), maybe 2 OP Hammers or Reapers.
Astral, five heavy burst lasers or less.
Legion, outfitted like Dominator with fighters. Something that can brawl!