Newbie strategy help please?

[Suicide Junkie]

Against multiple enemies, try to manouever so that you use one ship as a shield against the others.

If they fire torpedoes, and you duck behind one of their friends, the torpedoes will nail the enemy ship instead of you.
Also, beam weapons will be cut off when something moves between the shooter and the target.

Done right, you'll take damage from only one enemy while his friends bLast his far side into dust.