I think the OP concern was that IMP was a wasted trait.
Even as he has "fixed" the perceived problem he never took out the IMP step. 

As a casual player of Starmada I think the system is elegant, roll to hit, see if you hit, roll to see if you penetrated the armor, roll dam.
Pretty simple, I would not want all those steps broken down to a single die roll with a modifier.
Thats not as fun as rolling a handful of dice.  As the OP stated this is a "Bucket of Dice" system and it's a good system for rolling dice. Is it the best? That  is subjective. I think the OP needs to find another system as this system is not what he expected.

Colonial Battle-fleet?
AV Tactical? (if you dare)

I like the idea of a playing card for each ship.

I would also add to that idea; a playing card for movement and a card for firing for each ship.

I think it would add a bit of chaos to the game and make it unpredictable.

You could also make a rule, if you don't like what you drew you can shuffle it back into the deck once for each side per turn.

Welecome to Starmada!
I see you live in GA, I attend a CON in Jacksonvill FL, and we play Starmada there if you are intrested.

Probably take everything up a level.

For example your ship might be 5 hull boxes, now make it 10

Have your Heavy torpedos as 1 hull ships using the ramming rules.

You can also have fighters as two hull ships.

This way you can even put defences on your torpedos.

Here are a few ships made with just a using a hull of 2

(32) Average-class Fed CA

Hull: 2 1                     
Engines: 3 2                     
Shields: 3 2                     
Weapons:
1:X3YZ 2:X3YZ 3:X3YZ 4:X3Y 5:X3Y 6:X3Y

X: Long Range Missle launcher: 4/8/12, 1/5+/1/1
No Range Mods; Minimum Range
[G][G]

Y: Kinetic Cannons: 3/6/9, 1/4+/1/1
[AB][D][D][D][C][C]

Z: Short Range Lazers: 1/2/3, 2/4+/1/1
[AB]
Special: None

(29) Heavy Armored-class Fed CA

Hull: 2 1                     
Engines: 3 2                     
Shields: 4 2                     
Weapons:
1:XY 2:XY 3:XY 4:X 5:X 6:X

X: Heavy Lazer: 3/6/9, 1/4+/1/1
Inv. Range Mods
[AB][AB]

Y: Medium Lazer: 2/4/6, 1/4+/1/1
Inv. Range Mods
[L]

Special: None

(35) Light armored Lite Lazer armed Fed CA

Hull: 2 1                     
Engines: 4 2                     
Shields: 2 1                     
Weapons:
1:4X 2:4X 3:4X 4:4X 5:4X 6:4X

X: Lite Lazer: 2/4/6, 1/4+/1/1
Inv. Range Mods
[AB][AB][AB][AB][AB][AB][AB][AB]

Special: None

That's the problem with the internet, is that sometimes we sound negative when talking about a game. This is due to the fact that when talking about a game or some other product the only reason to write something is to complain. If you read the posts here on the forum you see allot of complaints, but what you don't see is all the good things about the said product or game. When I complained about the speed of the Klinks or the "Fast" starships in the game that is my only complaint about the whole game.  I never said all the good things I like about the game. I love the way the shields are handled, the movement (we use cinematic) the fact we are able to use 20 ships and still finish before dinner. I love the way transporters, and marines are used. So when all the posts on the forum get you down remember the complaint written is probably the only issue that poster has with the game.

I thought the fast ships should be a BIT faster

I just got my rules today; it seems to me that the seeking plasma bolt seems to be a bit weak. I think the bolted plasma seems to me more powerful then the seeking plasma.

I remember having the fear of god put into me, when Romulans shot a plasma torp at my ship. According to these rules I would not even try to dodge the plama or waste any shots at it. 

Am I reading it wrong?

"Each probe fired counts as a separate "flight"

Why are they handled like this the stats seem more like one-shot torpedoes with a RNG 6

Looks good, do you have on with a hex grid overlay?