Also the Federation's ships are completely outmatched all the time -- their galaxy class flagships can't even take on the Dominion's fighters -- and they lose most of their fleet in tactical blunders (repeatedly IIRC?) but still somehow don't lose.

This isn’t a problem unique to DS9, from my recollections. I’ve only watched a handful of TNG episodes, but the Enterprise never seemed to hold up like it should in ship-to-ship combat. They’d encounter one random pirate ship and a single shot would take their shields down to 30% and make the bridge shake. The ships were always as strong or weak as needed, despite the Enterprise ostensibly being a high quality capital ship. Absolutely writing for drama rather than consistency.

Also the Federation's ships are completely outmatched all the time -- their galaxy class flagships can't even take on the Dominion's fighters -- and they lose most of their fleet in tactical blunders (repeatedly IIRC?) but still somehow don't lose.

This isn’t a problem unique to DS9, from my recollections. I’ve only watched a handful of TNG episodes, but the Enterprise never seemed to hold up like it should in ship-to-ship combat. They’d encounter one random pirate ship and a single shot would take their shields down to 30% and make the bridge shake. Absolutely writing for drama rather than consistency.