Slitherine

Maybe it's just me but the ships in this game seem a little one sided.
I just started my first campaign and while on the "Take out the Compromised Satellites" mission I was getting hammered.
The ships they were sending after me where hugely overpowered gunships bristling with guns on both side. I believe they were called Talons. And it seemed like everytime they fired at me everyone of their shots hit me. No matter how far away I was or how fast I was moving. They have no kind of ECM built into the game whatsoever unless you are including the Cylons ability to "HACK" your ship.
When I tried to engage them with my Adamants it's like a wasn't doing a thing to them. And the Manticore corvettes are a jock. Two lousy cannons on the rear for defense. All there good for is firing guided missiles and then dying. And sometimes they don't even fire all four missiles, only Two. What's up with that?
I was wasting four good missiles to take down a sattelite that could have been taken out with one. Ships should be able to fire single or all missile bays.
The worst part is I don't even know the ships capabilities because there's nothing in the manual about the games content. Ships, weapons, ect..
All the manual does is walk you thru how to play the game but nothing about what you are using in the game.
The only time I really did anything is in skirmish mode when I'm using Jupiter class battlestars and then you've got some firepower but it shouldn't be so one sided on everything else.
I've been playing Eve Online and the newly remastered Homeworld but I kind of like the change of pace with the turn based strategy game. Just wish it was a little more fair in it's gameplay.
Looking for some input or other points of view that I'm not seeing.
Thanks.

That are some nice early game problems you've got there.

First of all the amount of missiles fired by your ships is defined by your posture(offensive fires more missiles then defensive) and the Status of your Subsystems of Firecontrol and the Weapon Chamber.
If you get hacked and get damage on one of these systems, you fire fewer missiles on the target.
You also can intercept missiles with fighters, if you choose them to protect a vessel, they will shoot down incoming ordnance, ECM and so on are available later in the game.

I'll give you advice, don't engage the target in CQB, Talons, while carrier/frigate hybrids similar to your adamants are hugely armored on the side, unlike your adamants which are much less armored, but bear more firepower in vipers and rockets.
Stay away from the enemy, use your vipers to get vision and pump one or two full offensive missile volley at the enemy.

And yes Manticores are a joke, they are corvettes, it's like bringing a rubber boat into battle. Use their speed and their missiles.
Get them onto the flank and let them strafe from behind into the enemy lines and lay devastation into them with missiles.

There will be much more ships later into the campaign which are much more well suited to fight and don't forget each ship has a role in the fleet.
Adamants are frigates, they bring fighters and missiles but their armor is weak and they've only got light guns on the broadside.
Light guns will only tickle other ships, and while they do little damage, you can use them because of their accuracy against lightly armored targets like nemesis or against enemy fighters.

Get yourself to the third mission in the campaign, and get yourself the first Battlestar in the Artemis class, then you've got your first real battleship.
The ideal earlygame ship is the berzerk, compose your early fleets with them, some adamants and an artemis until you've got better ships.
Berzerks bear medium guns, you get fighters, but are on the other hand even worse armored than the adamant.

don't shoot the satellites with the missiles either