Use whatever facton dial you want because you need to have the correct ship cardboard. There is a big difference between a binyare pirate and bandit squadron pilot.
Yes, the pirate is almost objectively better with that illicit slot.
What I'm saying is every ship has to have the cardboard base insert. You can't put a rebel bandit one in there while you are running a scum squad. So you still have to buy 4 most wanted packs to run 8 scum z95's.