Having seen some of videos for space combat, I was impressed with the visuals. But I think a lot more imagination could be put into weapon visuals than used currently. They appear to be mostly flecks of light being tossed around. There are plenty of examples from science fiction to inspire. For example:



It's been mentioned previously that beam weapons shouldn't look like projectiles. The phasors from Star Trek or beams from Bablylon 5 cruisers provide clear examples.



- Electricity riddled balls of light, like the Vger torpedoes from Star Trek: the Motion Picture:





- Star-burst-like balls of light (photon torpedoes from Star Trek):





- Exploding flak clouds (Battlestar Galactic, reimagined):





- I haven't seen the visual effects for missiles and torpedoes yet, but do they look like balls of light with glowing vapour trails?





I'm sure there are many other examples I haven't thought of...



Exploding ships could have different visual effects too, from the Death Star explosion in Star Wars to the Klingon cruisers getting disintegrated in blue electricity from the Vger weapons in ST: the motion picture.