I've read other posts on places like Quora or Reddit about how ineffective lasers would be as anti personal or anti ship weaponry, but what about for point defense? We see cases in the story of the PDCs running out of ammo/jamming/other mechanical failures. Theoretically, lasers would be less prone to such issues as there are fewer moving parts, right? Contemporary militaries have (sea/air) ship mounted lasers to destroy or jam incoming missiles, so why wouldn't this work in space?
I understand people or ships could have ablative armor but would that be practical on a missile?
PDLs would not be subject to running out of ammo, and if ships can power railguns they should be able to provide ample power for lasers capable of slagging or jamming incoming missiles.
PDCs have transfer of momentum going for them. Hit something, not only do you break it up but unless it's hot exactly head on you've transferred some of the momentum in a sideways direction. Get it far out enough, and the trajectory change is enough it misses you. Lasers would not have that going for them, save for the small amount of ablation they cause on the target.