I just unlocked this thing and it seems awful. Not having any Shields to start is horribly crippling even if you start with Cloaking, it feels like trading a neccesary system for a neat bonus. I end up spending the first few systems just hoarding all my scrap and desperately hoping that I don't encounter beam drones. Is there a strategy i'm missing here?

@LackingSaint: Nope, you pretty much nailed it. It's complete garbage, and probably the hardest ship to succeed with.

Right off the bat, cloaking is very unimpressive in the game, since it lasts so briefly AND there's no way to reduce the cooldown. So starting with cloaking just means you have a brief 5-seconds where your weapons charge and theirs don't, so if you're really lucky that buys you enough time to knock out their weapons and they never hit you. BUT THAT IS THE ABSOLUTE BEST CASE SCENARIO. Usually what happens is you get absolutely raped by a beam drone, and spend like the entire first 2 sectors spending most of your scrap on repairing your dumb ship instead of saving up scrap to buy a shield.

The game is just not playable without a shield. The extra little bit of engine power/dodge rate the Stealth Cruiser starts with in no way compensates for the loss of those sweet, sweet regenerating shields.

The Stealth Cruiser is probably the worst ship in the game, though the alternate layout of the Engi ship is pretty godawful in its own way.