Back to my question, I am just having a hard time seeing that the ships with black dice instead of blue are any good comparatively. I know the black dice are pretty nasty, but the range is seriously detrimental to effectiveness. I haven't done much with upgrades yet, andvI am sure that they will be helpful, but since they both work either type of dice, it is hard to see them altering the base difference in the ships much.
I probably just need more games in to start getting it down, but I haven't had tons of time.