Back to more serious stuff. I only use proxies in planet or base assaults. I use normals against Rommies(same for Gorn and ISC) until I wear them down for the OL's. Against Klinks it's about 90% OL's, same with the Kitties, Lyrans, and the rare encounter with a Hydran enemy ship. The key to flying Fed is watching your power curve and your EW board, but never forget your tractor/repulse setting, especially against droners and plasma ships.
In the Klink Civil War campaign, with the exception of Kreug and Saxon, a lot of Klinks simply didn't play because the D5D was not on the shiplist and they don't know how to use disruptors. The Fed, Hydran, and Lyran pilots proved to be better Klinks than most of the regular ones because they knew how to use direct fire weapons, not drones.
If you're a Fed, learn how to work the shiplist. In Early, if they don't start you in one, get a FFG and start earning points for your next ship, which should be a CC+(skip the DD, it's a deathtrap). In Mid, go with the CLC, but be careful, it has a horrible HET, and odds are you'll breakdown if you try one, which means you're dead. Otherwise, it's a bulldog fully capable of taking on any other medium cruiser. I've never really cared for the CB, so if I'm not in a CLC by now, I'll stick with the CC+. When you get to Late, you should have enough points to buy at least a BCH. I love the BCV, but that doesn't come out until you're really late in the campaign, so it's you're choice, Die Hard likes the BCJ, others like the Bismarck class(BCF), I don't like trying to arm photons and F-torps at the same time. I prefer the Kirov class(i.e. BCG), which if there's any justice in the world when they make SFC4, will have double drone control. BTW: stay as far away as possible from the Excelsior(BCE) class as possible, it's useless.
If you're one of the few chosen, because usually in campaigns, there's a limit on how many dreads and CVA's any race can fly, so depending on the era, I list them as follows: Early, get a DNL. This is a fun ship to fly, five photons you can OL at high speed and enough phasers to chase any droner to the borderline. Mid, I'd try and get my hands on a CVA, another fun ship which is good at ambushes for an unexpecting enemy pilot. Late, go with the DNH or SCS. They're both monsters when flown properly.
I don't really like the X-Ships because I think they were thrown in as a gimmick by Taldren, and the BB's(for all races) are just a little over the top, IMO.