sigh
NOTE: The following topic has been known to cause Confed supporters to melt after reading. Use at your own risk! 
What about the Confeds are better? The intro is just Rebel propoganda? Let's see...
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It is better to die for your cause, then to live under the hand of opression." - Admiral Martin Davies - At the beginning of the Rebellion, responding to an accusation that the Rebels should surrender before the war truely began to escilate and more lives were lost.
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We will fight and die for our cause." Unknwon Rebel mercenary at the beginning of the Rebellion.
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"Tyranny is the thing that has eventually brought an end to every government in this galaxy." - Vance Robins - Rebel President
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"We are not here to fight just to shed blood, but we are here to fight for what we think is right." - Rebel insurrectionist during the beginning of the Galactic Civil War
First of all, the intro isn't Rebel propoganda, it's the truth. The Confeds bullied around the outer colonists, denied them representation in the senate, forced them into hard labor, and so colonists rebelled. What would You do in a situation like that? And don't tell me you would just sit around an accept it. Come on! It's right there, plain and simple; the Confeds are a just a bunch of aristocrats who want to only furthur themselves, get rich, and have a nice life while people suffer and die under their tyranny.
And the Rebels aren't just a bunch of Zealots fighting for some radical cause. It's also plain and simple; to free themselves from tyranny and oppression. They have a Much better cause than the Confeds. What cause do the Confeds have? Well? Trying to promote slavery? If so, then every Confed who supports them should be tried for treason! How would You like it if You were a slave, forced to work for hours in oppressive conditions?
Because of what the Confeds did to the Rebels, how they enslaved them, tormented them, and denied them their rights, the Rebellion already has scored big points with independents, who fear that, if the Confeds win, they will once again begin their brutal practices, on former Rebels and Independents alike. The Rebels, however, can easily pursuade independent systems to join them against the Confeds, who are evil and corrupt.
The Confeds are also easy targets. Because they're so bunched up, the Rebels can easily make a slow and methodical offensive against them, slowly picking off their systems one by one. On the other hand, wherever the Confeds attack, they must move always move quickly and with massive forces in order to complete their goals, while the Rebels have no problem at all slowly capturing Confeds planets and Stations. And whatever planet the Confeds take, there is always one danger to them, and the Rebels will almost always certainly take the system or station back.
Also, the Patrol Ship usually beats the Manta? No way! In fact, the Manta usually wins! I've done a major survey, and the Manta and Patrol Ship are about even, but the Manta wins a bit more. In other wors, the Manta has a 55-45 chance against the Patrol Ship, with the odds
favoring the Manta.
Here are some other reasons:
1-Rebel ships are cooler than Confed ships
2-The color Red is cooler, as is the way Rebel ships are colored
3-The Confeds ships have stupid blue dots on their ships. Come on, blue dots? Icky icky!
4-Palshife and Satori are cool names 
5-Destroyer sounds better than Frigate
6-Manta sounds better than Gunboat and Patrol Ship
7-All Confed ships look EXTREMELY ugly and pathetic, especially the Confed Patrol Ship and Confed Cruiser
Another bad thing about the Confederation is that they seem very dicatorial in whatever they do. For instance, they used their military to force the outer colonists into forced labor, and when you hail their ships you'll sometimes get a message saying something about "Naval codes, blah blah blah". The way I see it, the Confeds are full of just a bunch of greedy, squabbily, ruthless, deligates (sp?) who have no interest in the common good (Hey! That sounds like Emporer Palpatine in Episode 1!). Thus, they have a very unstable government, unlike the Rebels, who are much more democratic and have a much more stable government. In the end, power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely, so the Confeds will loose, and the Rebels will be victorious once again.
Fights between the Manta and Patrol Ship is just about even. Both ships are relatively evenly matched, but the Manta is much more maneuverable. However...
Which one is better? The Rebel Destroyer? Or the Confed Frigate? I think the Rebel destroyer is not only better, but easier to build, and thus, the Rebels would have the advantage in numbers.
The Kestrel is nice, but way overpriced. The Confed Frigate is too slow for its class. Although the frigate has 50 more shields, all of its other stats are inferior to the Destroyer.
The frigate's three jump range is rediculous. The Destroyer can mount 4 turrets vs 3 for the frigate. The frigate can mount 6 forward guns vs 5 for the destroyer, but the frigate's poor turning reduces their effectiveness. If you strip all of the weapons off of both ships, and apply as many mass expansions as possible, the Destroyer has more space.
The computer destroyer loses to the computer frigate because the computer fights stupidly. The destroyer pilot should use his speed and turning advantage to circle around behind the frigate, not fly down its throat... repeatedly.
Another reason the Rebel Destroyer wins against the Confed Frigate is that it always unloads all of its torpedoes really fast, while the Confed frigate doesn't.
Even with the speed upgrades the Rebel destroyer is still faster than the Confed frigate. Actually, with speed upgrades, IMHO the Rebel destroyer can fly circles around a lightning. Rebel Destroyers are FAST!
Now we get down to the Rebels dirty work....
As you may note, the Confed Cruiser is four times the size, needed maintenance, and cost as the Rebel destroyer. That means that the Rebels can mass produce their destroyers, while the Confederation struggles to just build one or two of their Cruisers, which are slow and can easily be picked off by an experienced Rebel pilot. The one heavy ship that the Confeds can produce is the Confed Frigate, vastly inferior to the Rebel Destroyer, and thus no threat to the Rebel Alliance.
Another thing to note is that the Rebel Destroyer carries twice the Missiles and Torpedoes than that of the Confed Frigate. Because of this, in swarms, Destroyers can take down just about anything and everything, while Confed Frigates are slow, clumsey, and no threat in numbers. Rebel Destroyers carry twice the firepower, and thus they can pummel and blast away their targets with torpedoes while the Confed Frigates attempt to bring down the mighty Rebel capital ships with their puny, short range, and low damage missiles.
While in AI vs. AI combat the Rebel Cruiser usually cannot beat the Confed cruiser, everything in EV states that the Rebels have many more Rebel Cruisers than Confed Cruisers. First, look at the "Confed Warships" and "Rebels" dudes. While the Confed Cruiser only appears 10% of the time, the Rebel Cruiser appears 15% of the time. So, although this margine of advantage is slim, it still says that there are a lot of Rebel Cruisers.
Also, all Confed ships, especially the Confed Cruiser and Confederate Frigate, are all heavily overpriced. So, the Confeds cannot mass produce their ships, as I have said earlier, while the Rebels can easily build dozens of their cheap but highly effective vessels.
In the Galactic Civil War, the Law of Attrition will be the key factor in the success of the Rebellion. The Confeds simply cannot build enough ships to keep up with the Rebels. In the end, the enevitable (sp?) will happen; the Rebels will win, the Confeds will loose.
And here are a few reasons why the Rebel Cruiser is better than the Confed Cruiser:
Reasons why the Confed Cruiser is Worse:
1-It looks ugly
2-It has icky blue dots
3-It is slower than most frieghters
4-A Rebel Cruiser can fly circles around it
5-It is a sitting duck to all types of weapons
6-It carries Patrol Ships, which are the worst fighting in the game (besides the Defender)
7-It's neutron blasters just take up space
Reasons why the Rebel Cruiser is Better:
1-It looks soooo cool
2-It's colored VERY nicely (Red is very cool) 
3-It is just about as fast as the Confed frigate, a ship half its size, so it should be faster, right? Wrong.
4-It can fly circles around the Confed Cruiser
5-It can evade some types of weapons
6-It carries Mantas, which are awesome in swarms
And here are a few problems with the Confed Cruiser:
Problem 1-You can only get 1 RCS upgrade and the Rebel Cruiser still outmaneuvers the Confed cruiser.
Problem 2-Blue dots are horribly ugly and tacky.
Problem 3-Shielding means nadda when it's AI vs. Human. I've heard of people taking out Confed Cruisers in Rebel Destroyers and Kestrels before, as well as hearing about people taking out Rebel Cruisers in Corvettes before. Shields mean nothing if the Human pilot is experienced and is in a good ship, like the Rebel Cruiser.
Here's a joke:
Q: When is a Confed Cruiser a great ship?
A: When it ain't working for the Confeds.
Here's another one:
The only good Fed is a Dead Fed.
Now, have I not proven my point? 
-Captain Carnotaur
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To Escape Velocity: Nova and Beyond!
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Millennium. Its coming, prepare for it.
Coming to the (url="http://"http://www.ambrosiaSW.com/games/ev/chronicles.html")EV Chronicles(/url).
