Favorite trick in the game (spoilers possible)

[Foosnark]

Yep, it's been confirmed elsewhere that you get points for every fighter you kill.

- The Bloodfang is both faster and better at ramming than any Terran ship. With a fast thruster, plasma coil cloaker, and good beam weapons it will handle almost anything singlehandedly. You'll probably want to retreat all your non-cloaked ships after taking out the first wave of fighters.

- Don't ram the Tchorak. It hurts.

- The better beam weapons may have less range than the PVC, but they reliably destroy incoming missiles and do more damage. The SQP fires almost nonstop, and the TRG has a decent range and does incredible damage. Equip 2 or 3 of these on a ship and use it to fend off incoming fire while another ship blasts away with a PVC or other long-range weapons -- or cloak your beam-wielding ship and attack from behind at close range.

- Unless you're constrained by a slow drive, you'll want to put off as much combat as possible until you've visited all the unoccupied and friendly systems. You'll be better equipped that way.