The only non-carrier ships I would recommend are the Zephyr (early game) and the Armada (the very last ship you can unlock). The rest of the destroyers are not that powerful, and IMO kind of boring. I passed the game for the first time with a Zephyr (on easy).
The Zephyr has 3 mount points for heavy weapons, which is a lot early on. You can be quite powerful with a setup of 1 energy cannon and 2 projectile cannons. (The 1 energy cannon knocks out their shields, while the 2 particle cannons quickly wreck their hull because particle cannon is OP). These weapons are quite long range, too, so you can finish opponents at a safe distance. (You'll want to get the range upgrade for your energy cannon). As of the present release, upgrading the recharge time on the particle cannon is twice as powerful as getting the actual damage upgrade. Particle cannon upgrades are cheaper than upgrades for other large weapons, so you can get the most powerful, long-range guns really quickly.
With the Zephyr, you should be able to kick ass long enough until you make enough money to eventually buy a carrier, if you want one.
