Best Strategies and Ships for the Different Difficulties

I have some questions. The devs and in-game text seem to highly reccomend the flak cannon – however, its’ stats, when I’ve found it, do not seem to outperform the particle cannon.

You have to check what species the flak cannon comes from. The trolgar flak cannon is much more powerful than the wanderer (twice as powerful, in fact). The trolgar one is indeed more powerful than the particle cannon (125 DPS before upgrade, IIRC).

There are differences for various weapons depending on species. They are not the same, it's really important to check, otherwise you can end up with a really wimpy weapon that you thought was good.
Examples of good weapons:
- Wanderer missiles/rockets usually have very long range
- Trolgar guns tend to be more powerful (particle cannon, flak)
- Celestial / Schillae mega plasma cannons are the only good ones. Wanderer/Trolgar others are terrible and not worth the money. Celestial is a bit better vs. shields.
- Humans seem to have better plasma cannons than trolgar/wanderer.

Note: I haven't checked these stats since the new version came out.