Liberator Survability (I suck)

[RykerStruvian]

I seem to be terrible at keeping my Liberator up and alive during combat. I'm not exactly a bad pilot as I hardly ever crash anything (if ever). But the problem is that my hull integrity seems to drop to 75% before I finish a pass.

Am I supposed to hang back with a liberator as opposed to flying over enemies? Or is this merely a situational thing? FYI I'm using the stock lib with the AP30Shredder. Am I supposed to treat the Liberator like a flying fortress? An AC130? B52? Apache gunship?

Any advice would be fantastic.

[Raka Maru]

Of course, get the Zephyr. As far as flying, get outa there if AA is around, or fly with your empire fighters nearby.