Croaked with a drone and ion dmg focussed Engi ship on stage 2 of the boss and got utterly destroyed with the Kestrel immediately upon fighting the boss. (40) Light Laser Batteries (80 total) <20 port, 20 starboard> Defenses-Ablative Armor Star Shield (Heavy Armor Plate) Electronic Defense Shields Stealth Suites Compartmentalization.

Unfortunately it also costs 2 weapon power instead of 1 weapon power, and that's a major drawback later in the game.

This ship has a special weapon in the form of the Heavy Pierce I, essentially the same as the normal Heavy Laser except that it ignores one shield layer. Other than that I had long-range scanners and drone recovery arm. The starting weapons are definitely on the weak side. The Osprey, 8 crew, 3 shield bars, 25% evasion upgrade, 20 second recharge on the beam superweapon, 1 burst laser Mk.2, 1 pegasus launcher, 1 ion blaster (the one that inflicts 2 ion dmg for 2 power), 1 fire bomb (never used the latter or got a chance to sell & alternated pegasus and ion), 1 defense drone Mk.2, 1 repair drone (alternated the drones) + random cheap upgrades like above. I had the 15% faster weapon recharge, stealth weapons and cloaking to top it all off too. I think I really lucked out with those three low power - high efficiency lasers.

The Kestrel, 7 crew, 3 shield bars, 25% evasion upgrade, 3 burst lasers Mk.2, 1 standard starting rocket launcher, 1 repair drone, 1 defense drone Mk.1 (alternating the drones and weapons), some random cheap blast door, life support and helm upgrades. I unfortunately didn't capture any of it on screenshots so you'd have to trust me but my two victorious ships were:

Ftl heavy laser 2