Don't blame yourself, Bob, I got tons of requests to crank up the AI!
But to explain the difference, the Liberty Rogues were what could be termed "Beginners" as far as their flying was concerned.
And while enjoyable to fire upon, they became even worse pilots when they were given the Talons.
Never figured out why that was, but they were almost "sitting ducks" when I first gave them the Talons.
They were the first to get a cranked up AI, however, I tried bringing them back to their Bloodhound status.
Unfortunately, to many people wanted a "real" challenge, and kept bugging me to crank the AI up as far as I could.
While it IS high, there are several notches left.
At maximum, I once fought a battle for over a half hour, and hadn't killed anyone.
(And without AB, shieldbatts, and nanobots, I'd have been wasted in a few seconds.)
An interesting side-note:
Prior to the Talon, I tried giving the Liberty Rogues the Hornet, Stiletto, Epee, and the Ferret.
Survival was impossible, even with their "beginners" AI.
The Hornet could be hit, once-in-a-while.
The Stiletto could only be hit if it was heading straight for you.
And the Epee and Ferret could only be hit by missiles, sometimes.
Near as I can figure, the Liberty Rogues don't use their engines during combat.
They ONLY use thrusters!
What they're actually doing is going to full thrusters until the thruster runs out...
Then they change direction, while the thruster recharges...
And then they hit full thrusters again.
This is why they spurt around, and can turn-on-a-dime!
Once they're beyond a certain range, 2-3000 meters, or so, they'll turn their engines back on, until they rejoin the battle.
Not sure, but I think they head out that far to let power and shields regenerate before they reingage in combat.