I kinda miss more conventional, but ammo-limited weapons from the game, and I think they would fit in VO just fine
I have a few of them what could be possibly added, with stats given (unsure how balanced they would be).
Note that none of them are supposed to use any energy, just like in real life, however they have limited ammo.

So, these are the weapons I want to propose;

20mm Rapid Autocannon:

Licenses: 6/6/-/-/-
Port Type: Small
Damage: 520
Velocity: 206 m/s
Reload: 0.2s
Ammo Capacity: 520
Cargo Usage: 2cu
Mass: 600 kg
Shot range: 600 m
Grid usage: 4
Accuracy: High to Medium
Autoaim Range: Good

45mm Heavy Autocannon:

Licenses: 6/3/8/-/-
Port Type: Large
Damage: 760
Velocity: 210 m/s
Reload: 0.42s
Ammo Capacity: 370
Cargo Usage: 2cu
Mass: 860 kg
Shot range: 1200 m
Grid usage: 4
Accuracy: High
Autoaim Range: Good

Now for a bigger gun:

75mm Artillery Cannon:

Licenses: 6/3/8/-/-
Port Type: Large
Damage: 1750
Velocity: 215 m/s
Reload: 1.2s
Ammo Capacity: 120
Cargo Usage: 4cu
Mass: 1700 kg
Shot range: 2200 m
Grid usage: 6
Accuracy: High
Autoaim Range: Normal

Howitzer Turrets:

105mm Howitzer Turret:

Licenses: 9/6/9/-/-
Port Type: Turret
Damage: 3200
Velocity: 220 m/s
Reload: 2s
Ammo Capacity: 92
Cargo Usage: 15cu
Mass: 2500 kg
Shot range: 3000 m
Grid usage: 8
Accuracy: High
Autoaim Range: Normal

155mm Howitzer Turret:

Licenses: 10/8/10/-/-
Port Type: Turret
Damage: 4400
Velocity: 260 m/s
Reload: 3s
Explosion Radius: 4m
Concussion: well... maybe a bit less of what a sunflare has.
Ammo Capacity: 60
Cargo Usage: 15cu
Mass: 4000 kg
Shot range: 4200 m
Grid usage: 12
Accuracy: High
Autoaim Range: Normal

All of the weapons above require at least 25 player kills to obtain.
I am not sure about it, but they are maybe a bit overpowered, but I want to hear the opinions.
This would make for a new type of PvP style where every missed shit matters, as even if they use no energy, their ammo is limited.
Any balance suggestions to these are welcome.

+1 for auto turrets and cannons although, ammo is op imo, but would make PvP more fun nonetheless.

+0.8. This is my initial reaction, but my gut is telling me these should be somewhat rare or have some downsides apart from ammo because I do appreciate the more traditional futuristic/energy-based feel of the game and wouldn't want it lost to these weapons, cause as they are they look very, very good. Either I'd say they should be heavy as hell (maybe 800kg for the small port one and 1500kg for the large port?) and/or should be some sort of rare drop from unrats. It matches their reaver/junker style. You could even have the turrets be deadly weapons on unrat Tridents and Constellations, giving a player more than capship parts/badges to hunt in the long run.

I do love flak, though. That 155mm is probably my favorite weapon you suggested.

I am not against making them heavier, 800 kg for the 20mm would be reasonable, and 1500 for the 45mm, as targeting systems do have a lot of mass.

The low caliber ones can be more available than the larger ones, but by locking them behind some not outrageously hard to get badge/mission.

I do love flak, though. That 155mm is probably my favorite weapon you suggested

Its a proximity-based cannon, what fires chonky high explosive/shrapnel shells.
I am not even against making the cannons manufacturable, available after some Trident hunter badge.
That would make players to hunt them more reasonable, while also getting powerful weapons, without having to grind a dozen unrat dents for just one cannon.
But arming NPCs with this would make them quite broken

I am not even against making the cannons manufacturable, available after some Trident hunter badge.
That would make players to hunt them more reasonable, while also getting powerful weapons, without having to grind a dozen unrat dents for just one cannon.

If they're manufacturable after the some Trident Hunter badge, there's no real incentive to continue killing the unrat Tridents (apart from what's already there). If they're dropped by the unrats though, there'll be incentive to hunt them more. So you may not arm them with it, but maybe they drop it occasionally, like Arklans drop Avalons.

However, they should drop 3-5 for autocannons and 1-2 from the howitzer turrets.
As getting only one per unrat rarely would mitigate their usage a lot, as wont will be common enough to be worth it.
As personally, i dont kill unrats a lot, as they get rekt usually before I log on, or I just lack time to kill them, as I dont have a lot of time to play VO nowdays.
And I think there are others who are like this as well.

+1