Another advantage is that if you don't like fighting, you can fly around someone who is trying to kill you mocking him/her while RPing with others as well. After 30 minutes of futile attempts of taking you down they usually tire off, possibly mumbling something about LF nerf.
i have a xeno-id/iff'd hawk that i use to poke new players in pennsylvania.
why a LF? its cheap: i kitted the thing out for roleplay, not combat (yeah, i die a lot) and i spent about 1mil on it for bribes, etc. it 'can' kill a rhino, but only just, but i wouldnt want to take it up against anything serious
It's just too good at annoying people, if you like the futility of fighting your way out of situations but instead whiz around so nobody can every score a hit on you.
Also, it's a nice break from VHF spam and make people go "oh look a LF".
The true strength of LFs however lies in group combat. From my experience I can say that a group of 3 liberators can tear pretty much anything apart without getting more than a scratch and perhaps losing one to a very lucky mine that hits 'em when their shields are down. As long as all three at least moderatly know how to aim and especially to evade and concentrate their fire on a single enemy, no fighter or bomber will have a chance. Unless they group too, of course. Even then: 3 LFs have usually better chances against 3 VHFs than the other way around.
Gladly the "new" Class 9 weapons of the Houses are very potent and so a full magma hammer-libby can pack quite a punch too.