Re: Mining Laser
Out-of-the-box, it is too weak to be useful on a normal ship. Damage is too low, turning speed is nearly as slow as tactical laser, and relatively flux inefficient compared to other beam PD. With Turret Gyros and buffed IPDAI (or Advanced Countermeasures 3), it can be put on par with better beam PD. However, by the time I get those hullmods, either I usually have enough PD or LR PD to use, and do not need mining lasers, or normal out-of-the-box PD is not good enough, and I need better PD like burst PD.
Re: Devastator
Its best use is to swat frigates or destroyers, and ship does not have the dissipation to spare for HAG or Mjolnir. Hellbore is too slow to swat a bunch of frigates, and the only other flux-cheap heavy option is Devastator. I agree it is not the great fighter swatter the codex seems to advertise. It kills some fighters, but not the whole wing when you need them dead now. Fighters are too many targets, bigger ships likes cruisers have too much armor, but something small, fragile, and does not regenerate, like a frigate. Good target.
Re: HVD/Mauler
I used to use these frequently in previous releases, but they do not have enough firepower to be useful as general-purpose assault weapons. HVDs have sub-par DPS - not good when enemies can close in and outgun the defender. Heavy Mauler fires slowly and sometimes has too much range to complement other weapons in the loadout. I use them occasionally if I really need the range (such as Mauler in the Eagle's middle mount that sets a bit back, or HVDs in four lance Paragon to enable unblockable lances at max range).
Re: Gauss Conquest
AI drives horribly with it and has difficulty aiming weapons it, at least with a conventional loadout with Gauss in the heavies. Cautious and Steady AI cannot decide whether to aim weapons or kite, and acts confused. Aggressive officer drives too close and defeats the point of Gauss. Maybe someone else like TaLaR has an unconventional Gauss loadout that AI behaves properly with.
That you can compare railgun to medium sized weapons says it all really.
Not a bad idea when 9 OP is just shy of mid-grade medium. That is the reason why I am not opposed to 8 OP on Railgun, thanks to Arbalest. (Arbalest can be a bit junky since it is Open Market grade.) 9 OP is too close to Heavy Autocannon. 9 OP on light needler? Not with Arbalest and Railgun around.
Antimatter Blaster is fine. It has a use and if it was cheaper it would be even more favoured as a weapon of choice for phase ships and as a strike weapon. It's good that weapons that can fulfil different roles exist, otherwise all loadouts will look the same.
I doubt it. Antimatter blaster will always be taken by phase ships piloted by player because there is not much else those ships can use well. As a general purpose assault weapon, it stinks. The only reason it cost is somewhat justified is AI exploitation, which usually means outright paralyze a ship for twelve seconds after hitting its shield when its flux is nearly capped. Kind of a lame reason. If not for stupid tricks like that, it would be bad because its stats on paper are worse than IR Pulse Laser.