[Fyron]

I have found over time, since I invariably seem to run out of minerals, that some "useless" weapons like APB, Torps, ripper beams, and quantums are quite efficient in that they cost very few minerals & low rad to build, reducing build cost, construction time, & maintenance. I usually have an entire range of "E" class economy ships that I can upgrade later.

Ummm.... the Anti-Proton Beam is by far the most powerful weapon in the game overall (esp. when combined with a shield depleter or two). Only a few weapons can even come close to it's power in the later game, and most of them are racial weapons. Look at damage/rate/kiloton ratios instead of just raw damage values. Very few weapons can compare to the APB. High damage per shot weapons generally do much less damage overall, and so are often over-powered by ships using APBs.