ok, so right now ive got
2 dualhevy phaser canons and 2 quantum torps front and
cluster mine and 2 phaser turrets bak
im in a fleet escort, and im considering switching from cannons and turrets to beam arrays. if i did, my new arangment would be
2 phaser beam array and 2 quantum torp front
and 2phaser beam array and 1 tricobalt back.
would this be a good setup?
i was also considering maybe going
4 phaser array front,
and 3 quantum mine back.
im just not sure what the best setup is.
and yeah id get new bof powers and respec if i switched so thats not a problem.

I dont think youre getting much out of haveing two forward quantums.

Here's a tip for switching to beams in the Fleet Escort: Don't.
You'll do more damage, and have more fun making things go boom in general with the good ol' heavy duals in front, and turrets in the back. You might add a mine launcher in back and see if you like running right in front of the cruisers and laying them, but it's a very selective weapon. And like Warhammer said take that second torp off. Add another dual heavy instead, torps have a shared cool down so odds are you'll only be firing one. Can you use beams on the fleet escort? Yes, but you won't be getting the full potential out of your ships flying characteristics and weapons split. Maybe dual beams.

I have never understood why the Tier 4 and Tier 5 default weapons included two photon torpedos on aft and on fore for the Federation ships. Maybe this is something the Devs can enlighten us on.

They had a discount on them when bought in bulk by shipbuilders.