In terms of techniques, I expect you're flying something faster than those Voinian cruisers and frigates, so try to use that to your advantage. If you can flank them, they sometimes have a hard time tracking you with their turrets. Also, try not to take them on directly if they still have rockets - keep your distance until they run out. If you can, avoid fighting groups of them. Sure, it's inevitable sometimes, but if you can get them spread out and engage them one at a time, you'll be better off.
Lastly, it's pretty likely that your ship will recharge its shields a lot faster than they will regain their armor. If worse comes to worse, get away from them for a while and let your shields power up. It might take a while this way, but when you go back to fighting them your defenses should be considerably higher than theirs.
Good luck.
Paradigm
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Who you callin' "newbie?" I've been posting since (url="http://"http://www.escape-velocity.com")www.escape-velocity.com(/url).