I prefer the GTB "Flying Brick" Ursa. I don't know what you guys are talking about for playing on anything but easy mode... I always fly the Ursa when I get a chance... I usually play on Insane. Usually its two banks of Cyclopse and one bank of Tempest. Setup with Prometheus S and Subach HL-7 (if you can get the PromS, that is). 3xPrometheus 2xSubach. Load up and have fun!
The point is if you can't shake the Shivans, you're a damn-bad pilot!
usually you can beat the shivans by loading all power to shields and just being a turret. The shivans won't continue moving when they're at a shooting spot... they will start to move when you turn to face them. Unload on them with tempests and your guns... kill em 1 by 1 or more. Tempests work well. They don't start to move until after you face them. Plus, the Kayser turret is watch in a dogfight... I have taken down several Ulysses by that turret. True, they fly circles around me, though the turret is awesome.
The other thing to do in the mission against the Ravana is to boost power to engines and get to the Vasudan corvette. You can get there with about 60% hull on Insane if you're good. From there, let the corvette slice-and-dice the fighters, then hit the Ravana with all you got!
The biggest thing is to run at 30 m/s when bombing... a large range of speeds is always good; never stop. Take the damage for getting your target, full speed, hit burners, launch when youre near top speed, and pull up. Or, follow the torpedo in! I have
of fun following torpedos in... there's a good reason you have a strong hull, strong shields, strong guns, strong turret, big banks, and a damn-big ship...
"Be the flak-screen-screen you always wanted to be! Fly the Ursa!"
You can get 95% hits if you fly within 200m of the target and launch easily.