im pretty sure about that.

also, a fully trained assault bot can hurt a mech or heavy mech in the right hands, and that with much lower costs in EP or NIC for equipment.

i dont know why you have to create three agents "to test everything out" at all.

everything can be tested with a single agent.
mining + production
combat with two weapon types. (turret, missiles)

for that you need a single combat orientated agent, and spend only a few ep to enable all weapons and faction robots.

and the result won't differ from creating several test agents at all (imho, the EP costs will be even smaller)

Lets see if this turns out into a Guide or not.

Please dont underestimate the Firearms. While there is no bot or mech with a significant Bonus for them, they will still profit from every other Bonus the Turret-Robots offer them.

Their high rate of fire makes good use of the Critical Hit chance of Thelodica bots/mechs, and their alrady high falloff works great together with the Nuimquol Falloff-bonus.

If you compare Firarms DPS with Laser or EM-Gun DPS of the at the same extension lvls, the Firarms do equal DPS with less Extensionpoints used until you get past lvl5 Basic/Advanced Robotics.

You also have to compare small ACs with medium ACs - the smalls are ultra-short range, but the medium ones offer the same range as other turrets -> while they dont need as much CPU/Reactor or accumulator.

The Main disadvantage of Firarms is their MASS, which makes you slow when using them.