This is from the perspective of a player who mostly play carrier fleets
Drones vs Fighters seems to be a heavy subject here on the forums since it's obvious when going for a carrier strategy strength in numbers is important and to be honest usually the carrier fleet that can sustain a squadron for the longest wins I have actually only won the game with a carrier fleet which says something about how my experience is with this
Drones have a lower respawn time but seem to die faster too now I don't know the actually numbers but it seems like the drones have less health than the fighters and they tend to be vulnerable to a larger lack of speed
fighters have a longer respawn time but they seem to be better at maneuvering and dog fighting and their ability to get the burst upgrade allows them to be better at targeting missiles than drones
from the perspective of a person driven by the idea of role-play and caring for your characters in the game the choice between using fighters and drones comes down to the ethical question do you want to sacrifice human lives? I often find the fighters to be a more valuable purchase because of the cheaper cost and the better dig fighting capabilities but it feels awkward that I send pilots into their deaths
Missile vs Plasma bombers is also a often concidered subject that I find to be dominated by the missile bombers because of how floaty the plasma bombers are they often don't correct their course and go out of effective combat range but if they actually do keep in range they get too close and get obliterated by the point defenses from the alien ships
