Truthfully, I am quite fond of the Barracuda and the Swordfish even in the late tier. Though I should note that you really should not be tackling V. Large ships with a single vessel of your own at all. Safety comes in numbers, and usually I'll have a bait ship attack first (either a Barracuda with shields if needed, or a Scarab if you can get one) and then two Swordfish armed with lots of heavy guns (Railguns, Laser Gat Cannons and the like work really well here) and then one ship with some Tesla Coils to really drain those shields quickly. Every person will have a different setup that suits their needs best, but multiple ships is definitely the way to go.