Momentum

Another way at looking at the speed issue is that the ships have too much momentum. They can't maneuver. This is Star Trek: Bridge Commander combat, an endless jousting match. The ships are moving so fast that you cant turn left or right, you have to turn around and thrust for a long time before slowing down enough to maneuver. This creates an endless jousting match, or said in the technical terminology of the SFU... there are only two possible forms of attack, High Speed Overrun or Oblique Attack. This makes for a very boring fight.

Trust me, this gets a lot more fun than this. The Earth ship's missile is a perfect example. You can't dodge it because you can't maneuver. With the ships grounded in the reality of fighting fixed location, a turret, they will be able to maneuver. Then you can dodge the missile, “turn in” for a “knife fight”/close-in dogfight, and a whole range of other maneuvers and tactics at both short and medium range all of a sudden exist where they did not before. It really does get a lot more fun than this.

 

To PC my former employer of a different era so that it doesn't come off as offensive, “They don't even know what they want.” The ships are moving way too fast.