After some looking, i noticed that the other ships that are geared towards combat in the sil 5 bracket are a bit better in most cases (Namely the Dp20 and the CR90, as well as the CR92). As most of the other ships have medium turbolasers (oversized weapon mounts) while also having a large number of HP, while the Marauder is bigger and beefier with more HT and Strain. It has better handling, but slightly worse 'shields' on the ship itself.

Does the 12 starfighters and 2 shuttles really make up the difference for having a low Hp count and less defense and weapons than these other ships? There is a power generator modification in lore that allows it four additional gun batteries. For a ship of its size, i find it a bit underwhelming in what it's armed with compared to anything else in Sil 5 that isn't a freighter.

It has eight guns and 12 Starfighters. That's really quite a bit for a hull of that size.

So normally the Retrofitted Hangar Bay attachment limits the highest silhouette that can fit inside a ship to 2 less than the ship with the hangar. Shuttles (IMO) means silhouette 4. So the Marauder can bring 12 starfighters and 2 silhouette 4 ships. And honestly, the ability to launch a squadron of fighters should never, ever be underestimated. And eight light turbolasers are nothing to scoff at. Especially when all of them can be fired on the same target. Look at the AoR CRB if you can, it adds some really nice actions for ships with a lot of big weapons. Sure the CR-90 has some medium turbolasers, but only has 6 weapon systems in total, 4 of which are also light turbolasers. And while the DP-20 has QLCs and missiles, it also only has 8 light turbolasers. The CR-92a may have all medium turbolasers, but still only 6 of them. Defenses differences between these are relatively minor, since those numbers can be shifted around as necessary. This leaves the biggest separating abilties:

The DP-20 is speed 4. The others are 3.

The Marauder has handling 0, the others are -1. (Somewhat similar to defense differences, but the less setback on piloting checks through stellar phenomena, the better).

The Marauder has a rather large hangar. This is a big difference.

The 4 of them are all armor 5, but the Marauder has the highest HTT and SST.

The CR-90 has 4 HP, the CR-92a has 2 HP, and the Marauder and DP-20 only have 1.

The CR-92a and DP-20 have anti-fighter weaponry, the other two don't.

Honestly of these 4 ships, I'd pick the Marauder, but that's me. My reasoning is hangar bays can't be underestimated. The only weakness I see is the lack of anti-fighter weaponry, but that's what a starfighter squadron is for. Stick 12 Y-Wings in there, and boy do the capabilities of that ship become much more broad.

Fighters and shuttles provide so much versatility and added punch that I'd go so far as to say the Marauder (if fully equipped) could probably trounce almost all of the rest of them combined. 12 Y-Wings and 2 4R3s could put a hurt on anything Sil 6 or lower, allowing the Marauder to punch well above its weight class.

Even if you did half z 95s and y wings to be more capable against fighters I see your point. Though with any good engineer you could add extra weapons systems or upgrade various parts of the ship. The marauder is still my favorite honestly. More a question out of curiosity than anything.

It's a do-all light frigate. It can fight, launch fighters (granted it's IRDs, so like TIEs but Speed 4, lower handling, and missiles, but still) and can carry and deliver 2 platoons of troops.

That's what happens when you try and make a jack of all trades... you get a master of none.

I assume a 4r3 is a Sil 4 shuttle?

Must be me, but the Marauder is hands down the best sillouett 5 currently in the game. Mainly because of the hander bay. 12 bwings (24 proton torpedoes) will give any ship a permanent bad day.

I assume a 4r3 is a Sil 4 shuttle?

It’s a Sil4 ship that could be used as a shuttle. It’s pretty heavily armed for a Sil4 ship, though.

The Lambda is also pretty heavily armed for a shuttle.

Its got the same armament as 3 of the 4 shuttles, that I've found.

The other one is sil 5.

Must be me, but the Marauder is hands down the best sillouett 5 currently in the game. Mainly because of the hander bay. 12 bwings (24 proton torpedoes) will give any ship a permanent bad day.

Because B-Wings and proton torpedoes grow on trees. The rebels never have enough of anything to go around.

Remember that carriers are not designed to go toe to toe against other capital ships in a battle (that is what their escort group is for), rather they are about force projection and amplification. Naval architects found this out during WW2 where several "unsinkable" battle ships were destroyed by fighters (The Bismark, Yamamato, the bulk of the 7th fleet in Pearl Harbor) and even the naval battles around Midway which saw a US and Japanese carrier group fighting each other with just their fighters.

While that's true. Most carrier type ships in star wars are also battleships. Oddly enough. Though there are a few that are exclusively much more like typical naval carriers.

The OP''s question was a mechanical one. E.g. comparing stats, which one is better. When doing that all of the conversations regarding doctrine or ones view of what is or is not readily available is mute. It's a crunch question, so all that matters is the numbers.

Stats wise, the Marauder is the best sil5 currently in the game mainly because of its flexibility due to its huge hanger bay.

Doctrine and availability are important but are irregardless to this conversation.