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If you can afford all those Nano Rippers and your enemy ships don't have one heck of an armor selection... They are really good weapons, but I find that weapon variation is generally the key to success. Especially missile weapons... they are bulky and take a long time to research, but I have seen relatively few missile defense systems on enemy ships compared to shields and armor.

Actually, missile weapon defenses are generally cheaper to construct and research than other weapon defenses. If the AI's aren't fielding them, it's because the opponent they're most worried about is probably wielding lasers and guns.