Got this idea from my university's optics class
The lasers are mostly Gaussian beam by nature of how they're made.
Gaussian beam actually diverges on distance, which I assume that as a reason of having an actually "distance" for laser(energy) weapons.
There exists a focus on every Gaussian beam where the energy density is highest, which should be highest damage of laser weapons for the high pressure it gives to the target, but this is obviously not reflected in current game mechanics.
So, we can make a hullmod that shapes the laser.
Without the hullmod the laser deals original damage pattern as how they perform now, for most laser can be quite "wide" that slows the diverge of beam significantly, generating a relatively smooth patter of energy density.
Adding the hullmod applies a focus FOR ALL NON-PD LASER. I'd say the focus at about 30%~40% of max range. Near the focus, the DPS is significantly increased, while on max range the DPS is reduced.
For instance, let's set focus at 40% max range.
The damages scaling can be:
0~40%range:(80%+1.5*(range %))*original DPS
40%~100%range:(200%-1.5*(range %))*original DPS
that makes max range only 50% of original DPS, bad for kiting, but reward you going for a closer distance to score good damage of 140%. Of course the damage-distance distribution can be adjusted to balance things out, this is just an example.