Yeah, they were. IIRC they were sort of optimized for attacking Earthlings, whose missiles were useless at long range when they were cloaked and which couldn't turn fast enough to counterattack at short range or accelerate fast enough to escape.
That was the idea, but in practice the zoom level and auto-centering of the combat screen meant that a good Earthling player could probably eventually win at long range. At close range the Earthling could turn quickly but couldn't output enough damage or accelerate to escape fast enough before the Ilwrath could kill it.
Earthling is slower than Ilwrath which can also fan out the flame thrower and destroy incoming missiles. Alliance should follow up with Shofixti after the Earthling is destroyed by Ilwrath.
Yeah, IIRC the Ilwrath is helpless against the Shofixti because the Shofixti is agile and has a longer-range weapon. You can shield from the Shofixti bullets a little bit with flames but basically unless the Shofixti player screws up really badly the Ilwrath has no hope. Usually the Chenjesu also utterly cremates the Ilwrath before the Ilwrath can get close.