When u encounter a devil dastardly hundreds's powered NPR ships Fleet..ahhh..it's a very completely other hhistory..
I'm not so sure for a TN start at least. In the Eridani Excursion I was up against 15 cruisers of 8000 - 12000+ tonnes, 32 frigates of 4000+ tonnes and 55 FACs. All I had were eighteen 7500 tonne missile frigates and eleven laser armed escorts. Nothing came out of the yards during the entire war. I lost one missile frigate
. Why? Principally I think because I had a range advantage, my missiles had 2-5 times the range of theirs, depending on the missile, (although I was down to 50-60 million kilometres before I opened fire). Second I had thermal terminal guidance so when I over killed some targets (or if I had lost the launching ship) there was a chance the missiles would home on another ship - and they did! Thirdly I was more advanced, I try and double my R&D labs in the first 3-5 years.
Regards