Actually it depends on the game, in X3AP most M6s had the sizes of their laser generators tripled or even quadrupled, giving most M6s higher recharge rates than some M7s.
The game is TC so weapon power is an issue even for M7s my Aggy has the following load out
Main 8 CIGs
Front 4 IBL
Left 4 FAA or PSG
Right 4 FAA or PSG
Back 2 PACs or PSG
if I only got the CIGs going I can sustain fire for about 60 seconds but if I got the turrets going to then I can only sustain fire for about 20 seconds before I run out of power in the Aggy although that is probably more a problem of using PSG/FAA/IBL in the turrets, unfortunately there are no better options for fighter defence/capital combat I just wish FAA had longer range up to about 3km and about half the energy use either that or TC needs another patch to double, triple or quadruple the generators of every craft in the game to make sure you can sustain fire for a decent period of time even when using heavy weapons because 20 seconds is nowhere near long enough not when you facing 6 corvettes at a time and you are fighting multiple waves back to back
as for M6s they have it even worse even the mighty Hyperion which is easily the best m6 with the exception of the springy maybe can't operate anything bigger than HEPTs the generator simply isn't powerful enough and at most in the Hyperion you will only get about 10 seconds of sustained fire with 8 CIGs and that's without the turret firing if the turrets are going to then that is reduced further fortunately I can just pilot the Hyperion like a fighter and just equip it with 4 PBEs and 4 PBG in the main battery which gives me the power to decimate all but the toughest of targets and it gives me the ability to cap ships and deal with pesky fast moving targets particularly if you get the overturned one from the poisoned paranid start although I haven’t quiet worked out how to unlock that yet so I’m just flying the standard version but even that is still a good ship
just a shame they didn’t add the tuning crates to TC that and give the Hyperion the ability to mount flack or at least something like PRG that has a fast bullet speed that is able to hit fast targest, decent range and punch that is capable of dealing with even M3+ fighters while at the same time not draining to much power I guess I could always try EBCs but I never did like ammo based weapons M/AML aren't to bad due because they don't chew through the ammo but EBC have a much higher rate of fire which can be a problem
Depends on whether your limiting factor is energy or weapon slots. In IS combat, HEPT is very probably the better approach for an M6 class ship, while an M7 can almost certainly afford to power those CIGs, and they've got marginally better range. OOS, the higher damage per shot of CIG trumps any considerations of power draw, rate of fire, or other such game mechanics which are NOT considered in abstracted remote combat. Bigger damage numbers win, except with ammo-based weapons, which have "issues" OOS.
The higher projectile speed and slightly longer range of ISRs gives them a niche role, but they're not that good for general-purpose use.
Nar my limiting factor is being able to sustain fire for long periods of time in protracted fights while still having sufficient punch that I can deal with even big targets like the M2s you face at the end of OFF
Although given the issues of turret coverage I’ve faced in the Aggy during the last OFF mission I think I’m going to try a different M7 that doesn’t have a massive blind spot at the top and bottom it’s a shame there is no M7 variant of the Hyperion that would easily trump both the Aggy and the Demos and most probably every other M7 as well
what I'd actually like is a pocket frigate something that is smaller faster and more manoeuvrable than an M7 while at the same time having the heaver shielding and fire power of a frigate because as good as the Hyperion is the shielding I think needs to be a bit stronger the speed needs to be a bit faster and the fire power needs to be a bit heaver I think stats wise this hybrid m6/m7 would look something like this
Engine speed: 180 m/s to 200m/s
Turn speed: 12.2 to 24.4
Shields: 1,500MJ to 2,000MJ
Shields recharge: 14,400
Weapon energy: 74,000
Weapon recharge: 2,200
cargo bay: 6,333 XL
then of course give it an appropriate compliment of turrets and weapons now that would obviously require a bit of tweaking because that might prove a bit to strong but what I'm aiming at is something that is in-between the Hyperion and the Carrack but with a slight buffs to manoeuvrability and to reactor power to address the short comings of current ship balance that are insufficient and leaving ships to slow and unmanoeuvrable to be playable or to underpowered in the reactor department to have sufficient longevity in long fights