All weapons are unresponsive until your first shot

[jojorne]

You take control of a ship and move the mouse to aim but the weapons don't follow, only after you shoot once.

[Imperial Good]

That is because they are in automatic mode where they target the selected object in front of you and respond to pressing fire button (default space bar). Useful for flying since you can use the mouse to keep track of the target and let the system handle the aiming.