[Arkcon]

Interesting ... never thought they were so close in cost/benefit. Other benefits:

for CA -- a ship must have shields, and they must be functional(have supplies, not be blown out by shield disrupters).

Additional benefit, weak weapons may never deplete shield enough to allow boarding parties to work(I've seen it tough enough on tactical, strategic is prob. tougher)

... for OA, you get defense vs mines and damageing sectors. But you're naked to boarding without shields.

Hmm... hard for me to decide which is better.