Aren't the electric shuttles the same way? it'd essentially be a step between the beams and the lightning shuttles.
Though, I do somewhat better understand the main idea behind the Photon lances now.
Speaking of Homeworld, I used to play it quite religiously as well on the Complex mod. I remember playing a game with 2 friends against the mod's ramped up AI with ma handicaps... we ended up with 2 Capital ship carriers (Battle Arks) launching Destroyers and Nuclear Missiles at our two motherships paired together in a wall of anti-missile defenses, trying to take out the nukes quick enough while dispatching the incoming Destroyers and Cruisers... .Oh man, those were the days...
On a more related note... Since the problem with the Photon Lance is that targets are too often moving about to let it do it's full damage, perhaps give it a 1sec paralysis, just to ensure it deals appropriate damage? While the Riot is definitely the starship disruption ship, a small 1sec or even 0.5sec paralysis may be just the thing they need. is there a way to paralyze movement without paralyzing the weapons? (Other than engines, but that's a different story)
