Tweaked the Kol to deliver all of it's autocannon damage through the sides, and extended the burst duration, and noticed the AI compensating by establishing better angles to target multiple craft with it's now superior broadside firepower / front lasers.. The game alerts me that the Kol will be firing out of ports it lacks, but then graciously allows me to play anyway.

Will one of the three forces follow the broadside style of weapon layout out-of-the-box? I find it very interesting to picture pre-Nelson ship formations lining up and manuevering in lines and spirals. Although the Kol just sat still and turned around as enemy ships were blown up, it seemed a little more 'cinematic' as it delivered it's firepower to multiple targets simultaneously.

Also, upping the duration on the battleship seemed to really punch up any individual enemy target's Shield mitigation substantially, which seems like a good thing. Prior to this tweak, having your ships drop AI ships one by one is far superior to letting them all pick enemies. Currently, if incoming damage is even averaging high double digits, there seems to be very little difference between a mitigation of 20%, and a mitigation of 35%... by the time that boost kicks in, the shields are well on their way to falling.