Maybe it's just me, but it seems like a lot of repetitive micromanaging could be alleviated by having an ability to selectively link weapons together in volleys, and the volley is only autofired when the slowest-charging weapon is ready to go. Autofire is fantastic, but if your hull beams are wasted on extrathick shields while your ion cannons are still charging, you're forced to micromanage combat anyways. A way to have weapons linked into volleys and/or fire volleys in set orders/sequences/patterns wouldn't make the game an ounce easier, but would take out the repetitiveness that I think Autofire is intending to dispel.
If this already exists in the game (and/or in the pipeline), then I've clearly missed the memo, and I'm sorry for the repeat!