Yeah, if you're gonna turret, slot it aft. Personally, I'm running an assault cruiser with 2 beam arrays/2 photon torps fore and 2 beam arrays/2 photon torps aft. Pretty much every end is pointy. Broadside beams tear up shields and I can always point one end towards the target and let loose with torps. My tac officer has spread shot and high yield, and I have two duty officers that have a chance to reduce my torp cooldowns. Considering that the photons already have an amazingly short cooldown, sometimes I'm just firing them nonstop. That's why I feel like I have pretty reliable damage, and I feel like I can project it more than adequately while still having the option to go defensive and soak a ton of damage. I love my cruiser.