@ TaLaR: Only light needlers are losing range. It seems heavy needlers still keep 800 range. That said, I agree with you that light needlers will probably be obsolete if railguns are an option. Not only that, but refire delay will be even longer, so unless it outright overloads shields (for significant duration) like AM Blaster, so-called "burst damage" will be a wash. OP totals for most ships are low, and I do not want to spend 2 more OP on a fancier railgun than a basic railgun.
Thought about heavy mauler a bit, and with its DPS cut, it seems it will go from all-purpose weapon to pure sniper weapon when range is paramount (like Gauss Cannon). It may seem too much of a nerf if all else stays the same. With less DPS, it would be nice if either accuracy is improved (heavy mauler's accuracy degrades enough with sustained fire) or its OP cost lowered a bit (to 10 or 11).
Also, Heavy Mauler will no longer be a pure upgrade over Heavy Mortar, but a sidegrade instead. That is, trading DPS for range. We have two medium HE weapons for mid-range combat or longer. Heavy Mortar, which is slow and has 700 range, and Heavy Mauler, which will become a HE HVD with less accuracy. I don't know about you (no one in particular), but Heavy Mortar is a bit of a pain to use, with slow shot speed and only 700 range, and mauler will fire slower, so two slow-firing weapons. Currently, Heavy Mauler is the one HE to rule them all and clear upgrade over Heavy Mortar, but that will no longer be the case. This means we will no longer have a fast, high-powered anti-armor medium weapon to use. Basically, a new gap in medium anti-armor weaponry. I almost want the classic Assault Chaingun back, but with better accuracy and 800 range. In other words, I would not mind a clear medium-range upgrade over Heavy Mortar that costs 10+ OP, whatever it is. Could be super LAG/chaingun or single-barreled Mjolnir with 800 range, anything aside from slow mortars or weak mauler.
Re: Apogee
While its lore has always been explorer ship, it was basically a warship of the line until 0.8, not unlike Venture. Apogee is simply evolving toward its purpose. However, I would not mind if the two small hardpoints were upgraded somehow. They are kind of useless, poking with beams is not much help, and anything else is no good when enemies play keep away.