“The ion flame cannon fires multiple ion blasts in an arc in front of the ship.”

Forget about long-range sniping with this weapon. The Ion Flame is all about getting up close and personal. If you can boost this up with enhancers and devices, then it will easily take you to Heretic as a swarm-buster. A boosted one will remove swarms of Sandstorms or Ranx gunships in seconds, and at close range can deal with most gunships. Be aware though that it's not so good against big, heavy enemies and/or luminous drones. It works fairly decently against the Iocrym Sentinals, but you're better off going for more boom by then.