I've just had an epiphany (don't worry - it doesn't hurt too much....
)
What about a new tech - missile pods.
They are single shot launchers (although at higher tech, you could add the ability to have a second or third salvo), towed by the ship.
I'd imagine that the _main_ usage would be by beam armed ships, to give them the ability to reach out and touch enemy ships before closing to beam range.
The pod would have a weight, and so would slow the ship down until the pod was cut loose. (To balance the tech, you could make the pods non-jettisonable, and so the speed penalty would be permenant (or at least until the sheilds are dropped, allowing crewmembers to go EVA).)
Similarly, the fact that most beam armed ships have shorter ranged fire control systems would mean that the beam armed ship would need longer ranged fire control (or missiles that have their own firecontrol) (- again something that can be used to balance the tech).
Comments?