So, I've had my setup pretty much locked in, here's my opinion on the various ships I've used so far:
Terringzean: Absurdly, comically OP in the player's hands with the right skillset, 4 Reapers directly into any enemy melts anything smaller than a capital and can insta-flux most of the capitals you'll be fighting, allowing center/forward mounted heavy weapons to pummel the target to death in seconds. Picked one up nearly by accident from a Luddic attack fleet and was struck by how ridiculous it was. This one may need a nerf to 60 DP, it's less impressive in AI hands but not by a lot. I would also consider renaming it given that it doesn't gel with the other Low-tech names.
Nadir: Excellent exploration vessel, 3 large energy mounts to cover multiple angles means derelicts and most pirate ships are screwed, and it carries its own fuel and supplies while also having room for colonists. I run this one with Nexerelin all the time.
Roamer and Lockout: Solid and dependable early game ships, basically the same thought process as the Venture. Not as ridiculously tough but they're easy to acquire and fairly cheap escorts against derelicts.
Baldric: Early game cargo hauler for me, I love these guys.
Tungustuan: The 0-flux energy beam is one heck of a danger, but the AI is questionable and tends towards over-exposing the ship due to treating it like a regular cruiser rather than a gun in space. Phased these guys out.
Maraka: Extremely strong when mounting a Reaper launcher in the large slot, capable of bursting down shields and then exploiting with a torpedo barrage. One of my favorites for bounty hunting runs.
Aghast: A little over-specialized, has a bit of a problem with weird gun mountings, would recommend making those small mounts omnidirectional to emphasize its use as a support ship.
Carnyx: I'm a sucker for pure carriers and the power of interceptor swarms or just hurling 3 salvos of sabots cannot be denied.
Drudge: I hate the asymmetry of vanilla high tech cruisers so this guy ends up being my Remnant tech testbed/Sindrian Diktat stolen tech applier. I bring one along all the time, they're solid and dependable, more offense than defense though and has some weird turret angles. You could also remove those back mounts/reduce to a single medium, they're not doing a lot as is.
Shalloch: Solid, no real complaints. It's a fast, chunky destroyer that has the flux for me to mount the heavyweight stuff.
Buff Mk3: Literally just a cargo container with hangars. I use them in the early game for the absurdly long range heavy interceptors.
Gallivanter: Eh. Not really a great fit. The weapons layout essentially means you're going to either have a ship with very limited staying power or one that's perpetually overfluxed. Really meant more as a support ship in vein with the Vigilance ig.
Coyote: Lovely. Wonderful. Spam these guys and never look back. Being able to mix Sabot pods and torps means I can have a heck of a lot of missiles ready and they're cheap as dirt.
Tramp: meme ship. Kinda made redundant by the Hound existing tbh.
Blitzer: Fits a neat little lore niche, but essentially useless in combat, I have a couple dozen I put in 'patrol fleets' but otherwise don't bother.
