[Phoenix-D]

"I tend to look at weapons in terms of the damage per turn per KT of the component. PPB's are WAY ahead of the other weapons."

No, they aren't. Several weapons, including the APB, beat them out. Most effective for the relatively low research cost though (and even that can be a bit deceving).

"but if you anticipate someone going for it, you put more effort into armor instead of shields."

Opponent of mine in a PBW game did that. The results weren't pretty. Armor is nowhere near as effective as level III+ shields. Lot cheaper to research though, especially phased shields (side note: why is it that phased shields are so expensive to research even though they ONLY counter the PPB? Shields V is fine for most any other weapon)

Phoenix-D