[Sultan]

Yeah Phased Polaron Beams are the greatest thing since sliced bread; till the other side gets phased shields that is. Thats all I would research with the older AI's and have a field day beating the hell out of them. With the great work of the mod pack guys and other race makers thoses shields show up quickly now and now the name of the game is damage (not counting Null weapons). Yes the PB does a good amount of damage for its size and ROF. Thing is you have to be around long enough for the ROF to matter and the PB's power drops off at range.
This is where Enveloping Acid comes into its own. Its a great single turn hitter like the quantum torp but with more range and the more damage you can do in the first turn the less of a chance of the other guy being around for the next round and its damage doesnt fade with range (thats why I like the mental singularity of the psy branch as a one turn wonder weapon and the telekinetic projector beats the PB hands down vs phased shields). With all this you get the other stuff people listed for organic, missles, fighter weapon, and kick @ss armor, ect.