The 2552 shiplist was balanced by Taldren using data acumulated from thousands and thousands of SL matches on mplayer and I always favored Taldrens version over the SFB purists version, especially in matchplay. It is far more balanced than any "SFB exact" shiplist ever could be without any extra rules.
I have to take issue with this. This is the same group that came up with the wonderfully balanced ships like the L-EGO and the R-SPZ? The same group of people who invented the ridiculous X2 ships? The same group that gave the ISC fighters with 3 Gatling phasers and put 12 on a CVS when the other races had 8? The same group that added MIRVs? The same group that gave Feds and Escorts double-action G-Racks? SFB-Purist approach isn't perfect but neither was this game before we started "mucking" with it.