Breakdown:
Blue lasers and Concussion missiles are all that you spawn with. Don't undervalue them! "Blues" in and of themselves are natural born killers! Standard issue for the modern zero-gravity fighter, the Laser Cannons are always there when you need 'em. Small but powerful, these are twin turbo-lasers to help fend off any attack while you look for more weapons. Use a slow moving fighter to send a wall of deadly laser fire towards the enemy especially in narrow passages.
You can make kills with blue lasers and concussions! When I spawn, I have my trigger finger down and firing even before I appear in the level. If enemies are in my sights - they will be hit, and I will launch concussions if they stay in my view.
Remember, 2 seconds of invulnerability can be enough time to kill a weakened pilot, or make a nasty dent in someone's shields.
Lasers are the fastest energy weapon, speed is rated at 225 units per second compared to the slower Fusion at 175.
This means it's a better chasing weapon than plasma or fusion. Plus, the "reload" time of lasers is only 1/4 of a second (but longer with the Quad-Lasers powerup) which means lots of rounds in the air at once.
The speed of Lasers means using less lead than both Fusion and Plasma. Pilots switching to Lasers from either may find themselves "over-leading" and have to compensate accordingly - particularly when dogfighting. Lasers can be "self correcting" to a degree (like Plasma) in that you lay trails of Laser bolts which form a pattern which you adjust to correct for lag and/or lead.
If you intend to use Lasers, then you will require the SuperLaser and QuadLaser powerups before you can really start dealing out death. Super Lasers are very economical on energy. A Pyro gets 2 shots per energy unit. Despite this economy, Quad Super Lasers should kill almost any newly spawned craft with just 4 shots.
For this reason, even if you don't normally use Lasers, you may want to switch to Lasers when you run low on energy so that you can keep fighting while you head for an energy centre.
With the high output of lasers, you can carve patterns across pilot's paths, or spray them in circular patterns for good effect. Many pilots swear by Quad Supers and with the Fast Weapons powerup you will fire a prodigious number of laser bolts.
Lasers can be used successfully to hem pilots into any narrow confine. This is a great tactic to combo up with smart and frag missiles placed strategically. Laser fire can form a deadly wall down a tight corridor in a similar fashion to fusion whoring.
The Phoenix has the best Lasers, closely followed by the Pyro-GL. The gun points are wide, and fire rate is optimal in both these craft. Phoenix has wider mounts - which definitely are very dangerous as the reload time is the same as the Pyro-GL. Magnum-AHT possesses very narrow gun mounts - and thus requires great skill in targeting and aiming. Tank SuperLasers are stronger than any other craft however! The Black Pyro has the worst Lasers - despite it's good mount points, the reload time is significantly slower than the Pyro-GL.
To get to grips with Super Lasers, you should embark upon a Laser Jihad! Use only Lasers - create a game setup file with all weapons except SuperLasers, QuadLasers and FastWeapons banned, then fight 1v1 in a range of maps. (Many maps don't have Fast Weapons) Laser duels are a LOT of fun because you know there's nothing coming except laser fire, and dogfighting can become intense.