Shields are cool. I have a lot of fun shooting down "fast" and "light" fighters with an Ursa... the trick is making sure you don't get them into your normal sights. I've destroyed a score of fighters with the heaviest and best bomber available.
Anyways--my favorites list...
1) Ares
2) Ursa
3) Myrmidon
The Potato is my favorite ship--it's smallish (compared to the Limo, for example) and has gigantic weapons capacity, strong hull, strong shields, and even reasonable maneuverability and speed. After that I have to go with pure shields, armor, an automated Kayser turret, and anti-Cruiser+ firepower. Finally, the good ol' Myrmidon. Enough primary capacity to tear through shields with the Subach, enough secondary capacity (haha I love using Helios with them) to make quick and effective kills, enough shielding to absorb stray shots, enough maneuverability to outclass heavy fighters and bombers, and finally enough speed to make quick runs on enemies.