dunno, i haven't flown the fgs much.
i strongly disagree. i've flown the fdl practically since it was born, even during the times it was overwhelmingly dismissed here on the forum. i opposed all buffs. the lack of agility has always been a myth just attributable to poor flying. in elite's flight model speed=agility and fdl has always had plenty of it. and it always has been a good hit and run ship because of its good shield, but now you can simply make a shield tank of it. character destroyed.
but it raised the bar so it's now very combat capable. in contrary of general belief, the python was never a dedicated combat ship, precisely due to it's lack of speed and slow butt, compensated only by its good hardpoints, spectacular power plant and internals availability, meaning it made a fairly good shield tank and could pack a punch. but it would be always prey to a dedicated combat build given two pilots worth their salt, because e.g. a fdl could fly circles around it. not anymore. in fact, almost any ship right now with dirty drives and charge enhanced distributor is now combat capable.
no need. a really striking example is the vulture. a dream ship for many brawlers that were ready to put up with its two main disadvantages: heavily power constrained and slow speed. however great turning rate, very good shield and juicy firepower (if you could power it, you had to choose one or the other!) made it the perfect brawler (if you could manage to fit it), with one big caveat: you had to be ready to fight to the death in it because if things got messy there was no escape to speak of. now you can simply overcharge the powerplant and load the thing like a christmas tree, plus slap a dirty drive on it, and it's free game for you. again, character totally destroyed. this is what engineers has done to the entire ship family more or less.
