I don't pick my ship to fight in, I fight in whatever ship I happen to be in. Manta, Waran, Titan or Praetorian.
In regards to balancing the gameplay, skill is not a factor.
If he is as skilled as you and he has a considerably superior ship, you should lose more than you win.
The ships are the things to be balanced, not the skill levels. When one class of ship is so far infront of the others is when you have a problem.
For my money, the bomber needs to lose something. Probably hull and in some cases, a little agility. Either that or 50% of it's gun slots (not torps). Bombers should fear fighters, as caps should fear bombers.
And to Jake, Kudos to you for your pm. We seem to agree on something (more or less)!