Dragonlord I think most of the people posting here are talking about strategic combat. Basing their experiences on PBW.
I ran your designs vs the designs on the recent 'Close Combat Ships' topic. Your PPB ship lost every time to CW's 'Ripper Beam Ship' and Taqwus's 'Null Space Combo' designs. <To be fair it did beat many other posted design's
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So it isn't even the best at close combat.
PPB's are also very vulnerable to special racial techs.
I am still unconvinced PPB's are the ultimate weapon.
On using starategic combat 'fleet tactics' can make a huge difference. I know this first hand. In a recent PBW game, I lost my first few engagements vs enemy fleets. As other fleets engaged I tried different formations/strategies. Eventually I found the right mix for my fleets and soon they were winning. Nothing else had changed, if anything the enemy fleets had the advantage due to their recent victories (experience). Fleet mixes were the same. Went from only destroying 1-2 ships to only losing 1-2 ships. These were battles with fleets 30-40 ships in size.