Delicious copypasta!
Hull Mods
Stabilized Shields (This cuts down the flux usage by an incredible amount. Since you'll have shields up for the vast majority of the time in an Aurora, this is equivalent to about 20 flux vents and only costs 8 OP. There's a reason that this is on the Aurora by default.)
Extended Missile Racks (Holy ***, this is worth the money. Instead of being able to fire three salvos of the Harpoons and five Reaper torpedoes, I can fire five salvos of Harpoons and eight Reaper torpedoes. Nearly doubling the effective killing capabilities of this variant means that the extended racks are mandatory.)
Augmented Engines (This is well worth the exorbitant cost. Being able to keep up with and sometimes outrun a Medusa is amazingly useful. Few ships can get away from me using this mod, plus it allows circle strafing at a high enough speed to avoid many projectile weapons.)
Additional Thrusters (Or whatever it's called, this adds maneuverability to the ship so that it can turn very quickly. This is very useful for just about everything that this ship does, as it can keep the Pulse Lasers pointed on the enemy, it can swing the ship around to dodge missiles, it helps the ship strafe the enemy to avoid some projectile weapons, and it allows the torpedo tube to be used effectively.)
Weapons Group 1 (Linked)
2x Pulse Laser [Two front medium turrets] (This weapon is able to put the pressure on the enemy destroyer/cruiser/capship shields until they eventually drop, and has a good enough range to stay out of the way of most other weapons, and they are rapid-fire and turn fast enough to drop any and all fighter/bomber wings and frigates that come near. Seriously, I can just hold the trigger down and watch the destruction. The pulse laser is by far the best weapon in the game for its OP cost.)
Weapons Group 2 (Linked, Automatic)
3x IR Pulse Laser [Three front small turrets] (These help the full Pulse Lasers deal damage. The constant non-beam pressure brings down shields very effectively and is virtually impossible to dodge. Because of the volume of fire, missiles and fighters also fall prey to the dakkadakkadakkadakka.)
3x LR PD Laser [Two rear small turrets and one rear medium turret] (These offer extra missile protection from behind. Since the shields take a while to extend to the back, this is fairly important. Plus, you can swing the ship around with the increased turn speed to take out some missiles and fighters using these, if you really want to.)
Weapons Group 3
1x Cyclone Reaper Tube [Front heavy hardpoint] (We don't have enough OP for a Hurricane MIRV, so we use Reapers instead. This is very good for putting ships into overload since the damage is so high. And if the enemy ship drops their shields instead of going into overload...)
Weapons Group 4 (Linked)
4x Harpoon Rack [Four front small hardpoints] (Oh my God these things are godlike. These are linked because you will only need to fire these off all at once. With the extended racks, you get 5 salvos of 4 missiles, which is enough to drop a Paragon. Each salvo does 3,000 explosive damage, meaning that if you get the other ship to drop shields and you use your supercharged engines to swing around to the rear or an area of exposed hull, you can let loose with your IR Pulse Lasers, Pulse Lasers, the Reaper Tube, and -- most importantly -- the frontal Harpoons. Nothing survives.)
The rest of the OPs are used for Flux Vents. Being able to tank lots of hits while constantly pounding on the enemy with Pulse Lasers is very valuable.
The important part is the frontal array of Harpoons which give meaning to my flagship's name: ISS Ezio, Aurora-Class Assassin Cruiser. Being able to deal 15,000 explosive damage in five seconds is enormously powerful. As soon as you get behind an unshielded ship, that ship is ***.
I prefer 4 harpoons over 4 reapers because the harpoons are guaranteed to hit and are (iirc) better on the OP cost. Plus they don't have a chance of damaging yourself. With extended racks, however, a frontal assault of 5 reaper torpedoes is no less than 20,000 damage at once, versus the 1 reaper and 20 harpoons which deal 19,000 damage over 5 seconds, and in the former you have room for one more salvo (1 + 50% rounds up to 2 shots in that single-shot tube, amusingly). Whatever floats your boat, really. The pulse lasers and engine boosts are essential, however.
