Yay, topic that I can talk about the cool game I won!
So far, I'm amazing at planetary invasion and lousy at space combat. I'm playing the machines partially because they're awesome but mostly because the game is a tad too powerful for my system, which means everything goes too fast for me even as the machines, so might as well grab the extra armor and damage dealing.
I've found the Wyr to be the most irritating to fight because of their turrets and possible duplication (it's hard to confirm if they're using the duplication). In theory, that means you're likely to face three times as many foes when fighting Wyr than anyone else. On the bright side, their melee is lousy, so just charge in and slice 'em up!
The Salvation are only hard to fight if you forget that their precious shields can't protect them against melee. So slice and dice your way to victory against them! It helps that their ranged weapons suck, so those shots you'll take closing the range don't hurt that much.
The Free Colonies have one major weakness: They can't run and gun. Considering my love of the claw, it's not the sort of thing I really notice when fighting against them (it's all melee when I can help it), but a major deterent to selecting them.
I know the various factions have different spaceships, but I'm wondering if they handle differently. It might even be worth playing someone other than my beloved drones if other faction's spaceships handle differently.
Just to give some objectivity, I'll mention that Machines don't dodge. They got the armor to tank, but you're gonna get hit, even if you can run and gun. I think they really excel in melee, but then again, of course the giant war machines with steel claws excel in melee.