Bottlenose is a gunships, it kills fighters really well.
Usually people use the "sniping" setup with it, which I believe is the Razor/Pulse grouping. It might also be effective with just fighter turrets.
Orca is a gunboat. It's used for gunboating.
That includes blowing fighters up, and blowing other gunboats up, given its shiny forward gun.
And whatever other things you use gunboats for. Maybe destroying cruisers.
I hear from those who fly it that it's an exceedingly solid piece of machinery.
The Bottlenose is small and agile; it's very thin front on. It has four turrets facing forward and six turrets facing backwards. Two common loadouts are:
3 pulse, 3 razors (3 razors and 1 pulse on the front facing slots). This is the sniping loadout, and different variations exist replacing some of the pulses with missiles or gunboat turrets. The triple razors on the front allow you to instant kill fighters or most bombers with a well-aimed hit. The pulses and razors also allow gunboats to be tackled, depending on the skills of the pilots involved.
5 gunboat / solaris turrets and one missile. This loadout does not require as much positioning and aim to use compared to the sniping loadout, however you will have to whittle down fighters and bombers instead of instant-killing them.
The Orca can use similar loadouts to the Bottlenose; one missile and the rest gunboat / solaris turrets, sniping setups, all gunboat turrets, etc. The forward gun should be used against other gunboats, transports and capital ships. If you're good at positioning your ship, you can use it against bombers and fighters.
If you are typically fighting fighters and bombers (1-3) and not many gunboats or transports, then take the Bottlenose. If you fight a greater mixture of enemies such as pirate transports, gunboats, fighters and bombers, the Orca would likely perform better.
Gunship bottlenose is...to weak, you ask why?
It lacks serious power, 4 forward firing turrets have to low damage points, if you are not using razors.
BHG guns are weak, and can't do some serious damage.
You can't insta kill any fighter/bomber if he is not jousting you.
Cause any fighter/bomber will manouver faster then GS, and if your aim is not above solid, you chances to kill something on your own are very small.
Only good think what I find with bottlenose is it's agility. It can dodge snacs for some time, and be quite annoying in avoiding fire.
So, maybe GS can be good, but serious skills are needed to pilot it.
For the Bottlenose (GS) use either a pulse/razor combo on the forward and 2 standard on the rear OR 4 standard turrets on the forward face, and 2 razors (maybe 1 razor, 1 missile) on the rear, and learn to fire using rear view. The latter would, I think, be the best loadout for it, and the best way to use it. You should be able to wipe out bombers and fighters equally, though you'll struggle against good pilots either way. I can take out multiple (more than 2 fighters/bombers) opponents in my GS on a good day, but don't count on being able to do it regularly unless you really fit the ship.
The Bottlenose is solid, but a half decent gunboat pilot should kick you from here to your mothers house and back again. And get a Cap IV armour for it. Without that you'll not get far against bombers or other GBs.
The Orca (gunboat) is my favourite. It's equally at home with the pulse/razor combo, as it is with a full standard turret loadout. A lot of folks put a missile on the rear slot to keep bombers/fighters off guard. The Orca eats the big GBs for breakfast, and can handle the lighter ones as well. It's great against bombers, and has enough armour to survive in fights with multiple opponents. The forward gun is my bugbear with it. The firing arc is pathetic. It takes real patience to hit with it. If you can get good at hitting with the forward gun then you'll have the upper hand against most pirate GBs, and can deal out serious hurt to cruisers as well. Many people say that it has poor manoeuverability, and is a SNAC magnet. I've not felt that to be the case.
But do not think that you'll be invulnerable in it. There are lots and lots of very good fighter/bomber/GB pilots out there, and they are more than capable of tearing me a new one, and have done on many occasions.
I used 2 Cerberus and 2 razors on my GS and two normal turrets behind mostly because i never shooted backwards.. i used GS like bigger fighter/bomber it was nice ship. Mostly because of its dodging thing but when facing other gunboats unless you are good you fail.. i failed against Rogue gunboats couple of times with it. But with right setup you could kill them i guess.. razors/pulse
Well I can`t say I have much experience with GB|GS because I mostly play in fighters/bombers I have some experience with tridente and molly/rogue GB but of course every ship is different and same in some ways.
So I will probably take my chances with Orca, at least until I get proper experience.
Thank you all for you respond, but of course if anyone has something to add, please do.