Bret Devereaux

The limitations of the campaign also make you think in terms of task forces with specific purposes and fuel economy, rather than just bashing around in one big blob as in most 'strategy' games.

This is fascinating, please write more about this (or even do a educational let's play video?)

Well, I hit play and he was immediately discussing how the Lightning is an amazing ship, so +1 endorsed. I eventually designed a custom lightning for myself, but honestly, Lightning and Skylark are the two vanilla ships that I think are pretty close to perfect for their roles.

I made the mistake of taking increased maneuverability on a lightning once. Thank the devs you still get "some" info when you black out because that crew was experiencing some Gs

Durable enough to take big hits (at least before the AP changes come through, if they do), but fast enough to dodge almost anything. Flare launcher top and bottom so missiles aren't such a worry. And the guns can rumble with anything short of a Nomad or Varyag.