FT: weapons vs hull, tech

I'm glad I got more FT talk going, I was getting tired of 
seeing mostly SG and DS posts.	I'd rather be a "spacer" 
than a "mudder".  :)

What is the feeling about having a weak hull and more
weapons vs a strong hull and lower amount of weapons?
Those weak-hulled ships too fragile?  Weapons cannot
dish out enough damage to make up the difference?
(don't tell me, its been discussed before and is in
the archives.  What a chore.  Can't they be arranged
by subject?  And anything pre-FB seems of little use.
Plus, I can't find some of the dates.)

I'm recalling the big DS9 battles and it seemed like
many ships were gone in moments when taking hits.  My
guess is that the ST ship design is lots of firepower
and dependence on shields for ship defense, or phasers
are a bit stronger than the FT beam weapons which would
make the FT screens more important (since almost every
ST ship has shields, even little runabouts).

Speaking of tech differences, any such tech "levels"
planned for FT3?  Say, something of lower tech before
the current rules and something of the next level?

Admiral Glen "what, enemy troops on the ground?  toss 
'em a rock and let me know when enemy ships appear" Bailey