The guns of this galaxy come in a few families. Factions change the finish. They do not change the question, which is how the hit arrives.
A cannon points and drills a shallow hole. It is the ordinary gun, and the one everything else is judged against. A lance commits to one narrow line and punches deep, and it does not forgive a target that was not already lined up. A beam locks and burns, and it loses a ship that crosses hard in front of it. Point defense fills the gap between the hull and anything small. Missiles come in cheap and agile, and one good screen kills them. Torpedoes are slow and stubborn, and a shield that is still up wastes them. Mortars lob across a gap and are useless nose to nose. They leave weather where they burst.
While a shield holds, all of that is one blow against the bubble. Each family can be beaten. The captain's real armament is knowing which bill the other ship agreed to pay.