@Bluewild very difficult to advise you without knowing your current roster progress, and of course none of us know what upcoming ships we may have on the way that will cause a meta shift (though with the Bad Batch show about to premiere, and the characters being released now, there is a fair chance they will receive their ship as well, which is likely to have the Galactic Republic tag).
So starting from a vacuum, and with the only ‘new’ ship we have as the Razor Crest, which appears to be a great “plug ‘n’ play” ship in most any fleet, but as it stands doesn’t appear to be meta defining.
Razor Crest is almost definitely designed to be used in the starting line up, as it can withstand a ton of abuse initially, but any assist heavy lineup (which both Malevolence and Negotiator offer, with the edge to Malevolence on number of assists available) should perform well against it.
Fully developed, both fleets excel on offense, Negotiator having a slight edge on how well it holds defensively, so long game, I believe it is the stronger choice.
However, in short to medium term, Malevolence is MUCH easier to develop a fleet for, and can offensively beat maxed Negotiators as soon as it unlocks at 5 stars - the 2 unpiloted ships (hyena and vulture) means less resources needed to maximize the potential, and the primary supporting ships and pilots (Geonosian Spy, Geonosian Soldier, and Sun Fac) are all very easily attained, and not terribly difficult to gear (they also can perform well in the fleet without being taken to Relic levels.)
But again, a great deal depends on your roster, if you already have, or are going for, maxed out Galactic Republic characters for LSTB, GAS unlock, etc., it may be easier for you to build a viable Negotiator fleet.
So, probably easier to get to the top with Malevolence (and I think it may be slightly better equipped to deal with Razor Crest if we do see a Scoundrel Meta) right away, but easier to stay at the top with Negotiator.
If your guild plans on doing the ls geo soon, negotiator will be needed IMO. My guild never does the last ship phase in dark side geo, but i can beat the rest of the ship missions with chimera and executrix
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So starting from a vacuum, and with the only ‘new’ ship we have as the Razor Crest, which appears to be a great “plug ‘n’ play” ship in most any fleet, but as it stands doesn’t appear to be meta defining.
Razor Crest is almost definitely designed to be used in the starting line up, as it can withstand a ton of abuse initially, but any assist heavy lineup (which both Malevolence and Negotiator offer, with the edge to Malevolence on number of assists available) should perform well against it.
Fully developed, both fleets excel on offense, Negotiator having a slight edge on how well it holds defensively, so long game, I believe it is the stronger choice.
However, in short to medium term, Malevolence is MUCH easier to develop a fleet for, and can offensively beat maxed Negotiators as soon as it unlocks at 5 stars - the 2 unpiloted ships (hyena and vulture) means less resources needed to maximize the potential, and the primary supporting ships and pilots (Geonosian Spy, Geonosian Soldier, and Sun Fac) are all very easily attained, and not terribly difficult to gear (they also can perform well in the fleet without being taken to Relic levels.)
But again, a great deal depends on your roster, if you already have, or are going for, maxed out Galactic Republic characters for LSTB, GAS unlock, etc., it may be easier for you to build a viable Negotiator fleet.
So, probably easier to get to the top with Malevolence (and I think it may be slightly better equipped to deal with Razor Crest if we do see a Scoundrel Meta) right away, but easier to stay at the top with Negotiator.
Hope that helps!