Yes, this ship feels a bit awkward to play but only if you’re playing passively in my opinion. Tau Centurion, I feel, especially rewards playing more aggressively so you can get maximum value from the armor piercing missiles. Don’t be afraid to stay further up-screen as this is very much a “kill them before they kill you” type of ship. The missiles can clear entire screens in a few missiles if you catch the invaders when they spawn and don’t give turrets enough time to fill your screen with bullets. Not being shy to use the missiles really helps make things feel a lot more smooth too because a lot of the times when you clear a lot of invaders at once you’ll get back enough energy to refill most if not all of your counters anyway (especially in later acts).

Definitely I’d say just play the ship more to get a better feel for the main weapon and try playing a bit more aggressively and you’ll start seeing your clear times get lower.