So, wait a sec railguns are best against armour, plasma shields, lasers neither but both.
So to get optimum damage, a laser (range) that does both em and kinetic damage? Is it possible?
Or, just taking a look - hail plasma with needle seems viable…
Laser is instant damage, so has no best against damage type, rail guns are the middle projectile speed, faster than plasma(generally ime) but good against hull. And plasma is slowest projectile speed and does tons of damage but specifically good against shields.