The good news is you don't actually need to shoot anything down, the game is heavily weighted towards missions in the early game. Aside from civilians and a few minor thugs, shooting things down actually has a tendency to bork your whole run if you accidentally shoot down a really hard faction anyways. If you run into a merc fighter, best disable your weapons and let the thing shoot you down lol.
Unless you want to heavily look into these two pages:
https://www.xpiratez.wtf/en-US##STR_UFOShttps://www.xpiratez.wtf/en-US##STR_XCOM_CRAFT_ARMAMENTYou should completely ignore hunter killers and only fight things without a radar.
I haven't messed with pre-shadowmasters fighters outside of civilians yet, but I believe they go something like this:
-LITTLE BIRD: Fuck all
-AIRCAR/ DAREDEVIL: Civilians
-BUCKAROO/FAUST: Bandit zepellin, necroplanes.
-INCINERATOR: Probably intended for freighters but they're too fast. Maybe Ninja APCs
Theoretically you could use them for more by fighting together, but a base with multiple hangers filled with these pieces of crap will cost millions and bring very little profit. Just wait for shadowmasters really.
Edit: To answer your question more specifically, the only fighting ships I used mid game in previous version were:
-AIRCAR/JETBIKE: Civvies, tailing ships to landing sites.
-SCARAB/SNAKE: Weak ships
-KRAKEN: Tanks heavy ships
-BARRACUDA: Lasers go pew pew
-BRAVE WHALER: Missiles go shoom shoom
You don't get these for a while.