Since this topic is not too dead yet to qualify as necromancy...
I started playing around with loadouts since my Mark IX and HAG loadout lost steam against the capital spam, and did not do well against Remnant's Radiants.
I needed a loadout that was effective against big things and that the AI could use (since I pilot Paragon flagship).
I tried Storm Needler again and I liked it. Melts shields and wrecks things fast when paired with Heavy Mortars. I was eager to send it at Radiants only to discover a problem... default (Steady) AI refused to get close enough to fire Storm Needlers, and got picked off by snipers or mobs. All of Storm Needlers' DPS... wasted because AI was too cowardly to get in close and wreck stuff. Later, I tried it against SIM Onslaught, and AI Conquest kept running away from TPCs and Annihilator spam. It just would not get close enough to fire those needlers!
Next, Gauss and tac laser spam with Advanced Optics and IPDAI, for 1200 range attacks. If the AI was cowardly, then maybe it can attack while being a coward. Problem: Steady AI just ran further away just beyond Gauss range and barely fired guns at all, even if it outranged the enemy! Also useless.
Next, dual Mjolnir. No more flux intensive than Storm Needlers, and Steady AI hovered at the correct range to fire them! No problem, right? Wrong. It did not punch through shields (of SIM capitals) quickly enough. When it did, it was reasonably effective. Still, needing to wait a while before shields drop while firing flux intensive weapons is not good enough when the likes of Radiant (or other battleships) and friends win the flux war first.
So... Gauss and Storm Needler are useless because AI just would not fight. Mjolnir alone was not enough. That means if I want kinetic for anti-shield that steady AI can use competently with other weapons, then I need to use Mark IX, even if it is mildly inaccurate. And I need more attack power from the medium ballistics.
After experimenting with 1000 range weapons like Heavy Mauler, HVD, and Ion Beam, I noticed AI hovered a bit further away more to interfere with effective use of 900 range weapons. Thus, those are out if I want to rely on 900 range weapons for the heavy hitting. Weapon range has to be higher than 700 too because AI could not (get close enough to) use the ultimate shield-killer Storm Needler. With no 900 range medium weapons, I needed 800 range, which meant either Heavy Autocannon or Heavy Needler. Since accuracy can be a problem on unskilled AI ships, not to mention I need high DPS and good efficiency, I settled with Heavy Needler for medium mount.
So... abandoning dual flak in mediums, I tried the following in the ballistics: Mark IX on the front heavy, Hellbore on the rear heavy, and heavy needlers in both mediums. Medium energy got filled with more burst PD to pick up the PD slack. I tried in it the simulator, and mostly unskilled AI wrecked Onslaught. Lots of kinetic DPS to blow through shields... that the AI got close enough and fired... even the 800 range Heavy Needlers! And Hellbore blows big holes in armor. Satisfied with anti-capital performance, I tried it on a mob of smaller ships. It did not work as well (as the Mark IX, HAG, and dual flak combo) due to overreliance of kinetic to counter big ships like Radiants. Still, if I need Conquest for anti-capital duty, this is a promising loadout. But if I need an all-rounder, this is not good enough.
Next, I replaced Hellbore with Mjolnir, and removed the heavy needlers in the rear (for an empty medium ballistic on both sides) for one heavy needler per side instead of two (between Mark IX and Mjolnir), due to flux use and needing more OP. I tried it in the simulator. It was not quite as optimized for anti-capital like the last loadout, but it was effective enough. It held up much better against a group of small ships. With the extra OP, I can use heavy burst PD, get more hullmods to improve flux stats (Flux Distributor or Stablized Shields), or give up the extra burst PD in medium mounts and get Expanded Missile Racks for more Locust spam.
I have yet to try my new loadouts against the Remnants, or multi-capital deserter fights for that matter.