Ret vs Connie, how I interpret the firepower:
There are 6 maximum hardpoints for missiles on a Constellation, 12 on a Retaliator. And the retaliator mounts will accomodate anti capital ship torpedoes. That's a pretty huge difference in firepower.
It is true that the Constellation has 2 turrets plus 4 lasers, for a total of 6 hardpoints for guns. But these are not created equal either. Personally, I'd rather have 5 turrets than 2 turrets and 4 forward facing (though gimbaled) lasers. We also don't know what kinds of turrets these will be, yet, which makes it hard to judge. But in general, I'd always rather have a turret on this sort of ship. (It allows for much more tactical mobility, when you don't have to fly towards your target to hit it)
Just looking at hardpoints, it seems the Connie has 8-12, but the Retaliator has 17. But just looking at hardpoints alone doesn't tell the whole story, either. What's on those hardpoints makes a big difference.
So, if I were to make a bet on which would win in a fight, a fully manned connie vs a fully manned retaliator, I'm actually thinking the retaliator may come out on top, but I wouldn't expect it to be an easy fight.
The only advantage that connie has is the P52, imo. That's a lot of extra flexibility. Could just tip the scale. If I were in the retaliator, I'd probably have all the turrets and missiles focus fire down the constellation first, then toy with the P52 for a while.
Of course, we'll be able to find out for sure with the dogfight module. I'll bring the retaliator, who wants to bring the constellation?