You can. I did in-game earlier to be sure.

Remember, the Orion ships do not have target subsystems and can also not mount DHC's. The Varanus has target subsystems but also has less weapon slots than the Orion ships, so I think the tradeoff between the two is there. Personally, I'd just like to have a little more forward DPS for Elite STFs and such on these ships.

I consider the Orion FDC to be a Cruiser and only the KDF Battle Cruisers can mount DHC/DC. So no Cannons make sense.

As for the Varanus, again I see it as perfectly reasonable not to mount DHC/DCs on it. Especially because if you want a Sci ship with Cannons, we do have the BoP.

I agree with you somewhat. The only 'cruiser' that comes close in-game is the Gal-X, which is technically a dreadnought, but it can equip DHCs. The BoP isn't a science ship either, its a BoP, although you can make some nice Tac/Eng/Sci setups on it. My argument, other than the fact it is something I would like to see, is that in-game NPCs have DHCs equipped on their ships. We as users should be allowed to equip our ships just like the ships in the game. That and as I stated earlier, it would be nice to have a little extra forward DPS on these ships.

I have not seen Gorn ships in forever other than our own, are they the same ships?

Maybe the Gorn just gave us the Sci ships and they kept their Battle Cruisers and Escorts for their own Defense.

Same for Orions, I think I saw a Marauder on a low level fed mission, but not sure what it was shooting at me with. And why did the Marauder design have to be the T5? The Corsair and Decroit look so much better (despite the fact they appear to have Cannon mounts and can't use Dual (Heavy) Cannons).