Use of weapon traits can offset some of that cookie cutter effect and give the typical 'pea shooter' weapon a bit more bite while still staying a modest mass cost. Range though...range is key. I've had ships with statistically more dangerous weapons totally wrecked before even able to get into their effective range by simple long range pea shooters (and some very unfriendly dice). Part of the thing with doing designs for established settings such as Star Drek is that it is very very rare when the rules allow for an on par conversion. So such designs should be taken with a grain of salt when evaluating  their 'canon consistency'.