By the way, the game tends to lag a bit, it was worst when I first booted up Oolite after installing the oxp, but that's not surprising with all the scripts it's running. So no complaints there.
As for the maintenance idea, I think that a high-power laser would require more maintenance than a rail gun. Current technology has allowed construction of rail guns, the problem is cooling them and finding somewhere to store the tractor trailer sized generator to power them. High power laser weaponry has to contend with issues like the requirements for a gas or other chemical injection system that is required for a high power Gas Dynamic Laser or other chemical lasers, that a large power source is used in a electrical solid state laser, and finally the fact that when a laser hits metal, it creates a cloud of superheated metal (also known as plasma) around the target, which infers with the laser beam's coherence. Laser weaponry sounds cool, but has a lot of problems attached.
...However with regards to the power issue, we have Quirium, a super-fuel and the weirdest stuff in the Ooniverse, also known to some of us as magic sunshine.
In all seriousness, I think the current requirements for the rail-guns are good, the rail gun currently works best as a back up weapon for when the forward laser is overheated. I think the trade-offs: only a hundred rounds of ammunition, which I think you could burn through quickly, the low damage, and the low fire rate compared to a laser (I tried the light rail-gun and it had a cycle rate roughly equal to that of a pulse laser, if not slower;) balance the fact that it is a weapon that does not overheat.