Just got a computer that can handle the sheer amount of ship porn that this game can put out, so bought it and was wondering what the state of multiplayer is currently in. Is there currently a faction/build/meta that is sweeping mulitplayer or factions that are falling behind?

Doing a random skirmish (and putzing in singleplayer), there's not a whole lot of customization that we can do with our fleets, with it being limited to our Admirals. Are there any plans to add more customization to fleets in general? As of right now, the only differences between the different subfactions in a fleet is the portrait. I know balance is a huge PITA with the more options that are thrown in the more likely they're not going to be used (because meta), but it'd be nice to be able to customize a bit more so that the fleets feel unique.

In bfga 2 your uniqueness comes with the fleet list you build. There is plenty to experiment with. But perks ATM are really underwhelming in what they do.

Multiplayer could be better or it could be worse.
I'd just jump in and Duke it out.

2v2 seems kinda dead but 1v1 still gets a match decently fast. Past days I haven't waited for more than a minute for a battle to begin.
As for metas, most players focus on a couple of ships for easier control. The more diverse the roster, the harder for you as well to make it work well. And when the vast majority prefers the easy approach, the incentive to use a more diverse fleet is diminished. But the satisfaction of figuring out how a certain fleet should be used is high.
Thing is, with so many factions and fleet compositions possible, you are bound to have success with even the most haggard of fleets eventually.