[Patrikc]

In general, high damage low armour favours fast initiatives, while low damage high armour favours slow initiatives. Neither make a set of stats offensive or defensive on their own. In the former it's easier to take roids for no losses, but once you start losing some ships it quickly becomes a recall, whereas with the latter you often start taking losses with minimal defense, but are harder to repel (making it easier to land for XP).