I am still struggling with the intent of the changes, both in ship classes and in energy consumption. This has made it very hard to suggest exact changes which would match both/either goals.
Depending on the design goals there are a bunch of potential soultions with scripting, I am still unclear if this is even an acceptable soultions as it potentially causes issues for GM’s & whoever has to maintain the script(s). I personally believe that there are solutions that would work, but it heavily depends on the design goals.
Personally I disagree with the ares being made closer to the artemis class as they already overlap substantally (I think more than any 2 other ships in the fleet). I think there being variety between the ships is a plus.
If the ares class balance is taken as the main/only problem I too am struggling to see many solutions other than the broadside idea as all other solutions seem to be ruled out as infringing on other ships roles too much.
If it is seen as a more generic problem with balance (be that energy/ship design) then I think reviewing scripting options with the question “what is the intention of this balance” being the first question asked would be a good starting location.