Differences in NPC combat rankings

[eachann]

I was wondering.. is there really much difference between fighting a mostly harmless NPC and a master? The only real difference I've noticed is the equipment the ships have... the harmless NPC often has no shield, while the master will have shield cells to bring his shields back up to full quickly. Other than that I don't really see a perceivable difference in fighting ability. Am I wrong?

 

[adoredtv]

Equipment appears to be the main thing regarding ranking, though I've seen some awful NPC flying from Harmless ships. Weird thing though is I've also seen Harmless pilots pulling FA-OFF manoeuvres so they don't appear to be limited in that regard.