I tend to outfit my Herons to take and hold control points, so kinetics in the universal slot (needler/HVD), burst PD in the slots by the bridge, throwaway mining lasers in the rear, and an IR laser in the nose/side slot (towards the endgame, you can give them some bite with an AM blaster). A low-tech version is heavy auto/Blackrock dual shard in the universal and LR PD/tac lasers in all energy slots.
It'll rip through frigates and fighters, and a Heron can pin down a destroyer long enough for your mobile force to come to the rescue. It has great armor, and plenty of cargo capacity. It's a little pricey, but if you're running a lot of fighters, you're essentially paying more in upkeep as a tradeoff against replacing frigates constantly and the odd destroyer every few fights.
