Ensign, meet Miranda. Miranda, meet your new Captain. You two will be spending a lot of time together.
Now I know she doesn't look like much, in fact she's little more than a bare hull. Two forward weapon slots, one rear, a single console of each type and not enough crew for a conga line is all you get. Basic shield, basic engines, basic everything... How exactly are you supposed to take this shell of ship into combat against the Orion Syndicate or against the might of the Klingon Empire?
Well it's not as bad as it sounds. Slap on a few consoles, maybe some better Impulse Engines and Resilient Shields and you are golden. Since you still need to kill stuff you might need to boost your Phaser Arrays a bit and hopefully you can snag an early Quantum Torpedo Launcher really blow things away.
Once you've gotten rid of most of your basic gear it's time to specialize. There are many ways to fly a Miranda. Initially she is built as a Cruiser, with two 250 degrees Phaser Arrays, one back and one front and a forward facing Photon Torpedo Launcher. This is fine if all you plan on doing is broadsiding enemies with both your Phasers and launching a Torpedo once their shields collapse, but in all honestly it is a very inefficient way of dealing with multiple fast ships and overall your damage potential is limited even against larger opponents. The sole advantage in PvE is that you can rotate to keep your strongest shield facing the enemy while still keeping two Phasers peppering the target, but usually you want targets dead fast not limping around you while you try and line up a Photon Torpedo.
The second, and for me the best way to outfit the Miranda in PvE is to dump the rear Phaser Array in favor of a Turret. Turrets deal less damage than a 250 degrees Array but they fire in any direction. They can be hard to find as Federation and you might only find Disruptor Turrets but these work as well. Next try and get either a Cannon (heavy works best) or better a Dual-Beam Array instead of your basic front Phaser. Cannons have a 45 degree firing angle so that might be a little small when trying to kill Birds of Prey or Orion Frigates, but Dual-Beam Arrays have a 90 degree angle, perfectly matching your Torpedo Launcher. Beam weapons lose less damage at longer range, whereas Cannons deal little damage at ranges over 5 kms. If you manage to swing a Mark II Photon Torpedo Launcher or a Quantum Torpedo Launcher you will find that taking down even the strongest of Battleships becomes a chore rather than a challenge.
The only downside of the build above is that you will always need to face your enemy, as your only side weapon is a low damage Turret. This means that your forward shield will take the brunt of the enemy Torpedo Volleys and can and will fail, so a Bridge Officer with Emergency Power to Shields I is practically a necessity. On the other hand targets will die quickly from your combination of Turret, Dual-Beam and Torpedo fire, thus allowing you to complete missions faster and exchange your lovely Miranda for a brand new ship sooner.
In PvP the Miranda is not nearly maneuverable enough to try and pull off the Escort style of play, with all DPS concentrated in a 90 degree forward arc. Klingon Birds of Prey will circle around you and hit your unprotected sides and rear, dropping your shields fast with their Disruptors and blowing holes in your hull with their well timed High Yield Torpedoes. In PvP you want to be able to hit anything anywhere. Two 250 degree Phaser Arrays allow you to always fire on the enemy, especially while maneuvering to protect weakened sides. Another option is to carry Mines in the rear slot, but these are only effective in great number.
Whichever way you choose to fly it, the Miranda remains a very versatile, if a little poorly endowed ship. Just remember - a ship is only as good as its Captain!
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