I think Eagle vs Eradicator is a nice case for where the Eagle currently works, and a hint about how to fix it for general use: its juuuust fast enough to keep the eradicator in range after they initially close with each other and has the defensive stats to whether the fire, so it can control the engagement and win. As a contrast, when the Eagle is slower than its opponent it can't control when its medium energy mounts are in range and it can be reduced to 3 medium ballistics only for firepower. So I'd really like to see an Eagle speed boost: 50 base speed is too slow for a medium cruiser... with system its 75 (but the system doesn't benefit from navigation boosts so its a bit slower in practice than a 'real' 75 speed ship) which is 'ok', but then the ship effectively has no system!
On the one hand, I'm excited for IR autolance! On the other, I don't like the idea of a ship's weapon mount being pigeonholed into just a few options because the other options don't work well with the ship design.