Capital ship gameplay can never be decent until NPC patrols are removed. It's an issue when you spend an hour trying to fight someone but neither person does anything because every time they kill the npc patrols, 342034723097846 more ships spawn and do literally nothing other than flip you over and screw with your aim. If NPC patrols are removed, only then can we properly balance anything.
Or give cruiser primaries faster refire/give them secondary turrets to murder those darn snubs.