I've recently started playing online, which is naturally very different from beating up computers. I've only played one game so far, a 2v2 which I won, but between that and reading some posts on this forum I get the impression that there's a lot of information I'm missing on how this game is played.

My main question is about LRM spamming. In the game I played, both my opponents built almost nothing but LRMs. Also, many of the posts on this forum seem to be complaining about LRM spam. The thing that confuses me is that, according to in-game values, LRMs really don't seem very good. They do one more damage than the basic combat frig at slightly longer range, but have less health to compensate - what makes them such a powerhouse?

In addition to this, another thread on this forum, about advent strategy, says something about how building defense vessels is the best way to counter LRMs. Is there a reason this is the case? Are defense vessels not really just anti-fighter craft?

All of this together seems to imply that there is a lot of information about the game that the UI simply doesn't tell you. Do some ships do more damage to some ships than others? Is there anything else similar that I should know about?