That's true, CrustyMac. However, it's also very satisfying to unload a beam overload 3 into naked hull and critical for 30k damage

Having not respecced yet, I've been experimenting with an Advanced Escort (with the multi vector console) and no torpedoes for a few days and I have to say I'm having great success so far. I will freely admit that there have been a number of occasions where I have found my finger drifting toward torpedoes and cursing the fact that I'm not running any at the minute. However there is the counter point that I may not have gotten down to the hull without the extra dual heavy cannon...

In summary, It would seem that the all cannons/DBB can work for me. However the cooldown on beam overload means my spike hull damage is quite intermittent, so perhaps running a BO1 or 2 as well as BO3 (presuming the global cooldown is ~15sec?)
Still not sure enough for a respec