Well yes it is true that a FLEET of ships will kill ONE ship if they concentrate their fire on that ONE ship even at extreme range.
  The point that I was making is that as you get within a very short range (for SFB) the weapons become increasingly powerful. So powerful that ONE ship can usually cripple or kill another ship at short ranges. A very sizeable change in damage output vs range.
  Of course weapons with the RBD option do tend to be rather chunky space wise.
  Just something to think about.

Also, instead of running your hull sizes up, try fielding some fast escorts.
Yes they are going to die against capital ships (more importantly though it means those capital ships aren't shooting at YOUR capital ships) but they are generaly very fast (speed 7-8+) coupled with some fast firing light homing missiles (Rng 9, 3-4+ to hit, ROF 3, D1, P1, inverted range mods, expendable or not as you see fit) and you've got a very nice, very lethal fighter killer on your hands.
  Lets assume you have a speed 8 escort, and you give him rng 9 guns. He has an effective engagement envelope of 17 hexes. Sure the fighters will move after he moves but it won't save them. You'll be shooting at long range where they can't get you and that coupled with inverted range mods means you'll be hitting on 2+ at long range (3+ when you factor in the fighters small target ability). You are gonna massacre the little buggers.
  PS. The best thing about expendable ordnance on a small ship: A. You've already shot your wad so if you croak it's no big deal and B: You've already shot your wad so you're no longer a priority target either, so you might get to live to run away, reload and fight another day!
  PPS: We generaly frown on disposable ordnance in one off games. But for campaigns its not a problem (as long as the fleet has colliers and time available to reload).

In a campaign we keep them secret. If my opponents want to discover what my ships are packing he has 2 ways to find out: 1 Espionage in the campaign and 2 battle.
In a 1 shot where your doing points vs points then yeah you generaly know what your opponent has on hand.
  Personally I've always liked SFBs (Star fleet battles) bogey intel rules.
At certain ranges types of info becomes available. At long ranges a ships hull size becomes apparent, at closer ranges its class, closer still its variants, closer still what type of weapons its packing, still closer whether they are powered up (not a problem in starmada as they are always powered up!). You get the idea.
It worked very well and was quite straight forward.
  Plus from a campaign point of view it really helps get some extra mileage out of Long range sensors over and above the normal use for them.
And no I don't normally equip any of my ships with them unless they are an explorer vessel, long range recon, or scout vessel. Mostly because at low levels they take up a big chunk o'space in the ships.

I have to say that I think that if your faction is primi-tech (-2, -1) then yes your fighters should be far less effective relative to a higher tech race.
  EX: No way a bi-plane from WWI is going to take out an F-18 today except with a "Golden BB" shot or ramming.
   I think going with the slower speed is quite adequete if you assume that the fighter as presented in starmada is a Tech level 0 machine.
  This would then predicate that lower tech fighters are probably slower, not as lethal, can't take as much damage, have less EW options, may not be as maneuvarable, and have less endurance. Whereas a higher tech Faction (+1-2) would have benefits appreciably greater in these areas.
Now it just remains for someone to work out an elegantly simple system (Starmada style) that works and is not cumbersome to deal with.

Subs. Submarines that is. Gun up the Hulls and your on. Otherwise just pick up some starblazers off of some auction site and save a lot of time. Not that the effort to convert isn't worthwhile in its own right.

Hello, I have converted almost all of the B5 ships into Starmada equivalents. I have also developed a "Master weapons chart" and a few sheets that give guidelines for converting B5 ships to Starmada.
  Just email me for them and I'll bundle them together and get them off to whomever is interested.
   The ships as usual are a work in progress.
   Though at this time I have completed the E.A, Minbari, Centauri, Narn, Shadows, Vorlons, Brakiri, Vree, Abbai, Dilgar, Gaim, Pak'ma'ra, Alacan, Balosian, Descari, Kirishiac, Mindriders, and Torvalus.
   The remaining Ancients and Minor Races are a WIP and their completion depends on whether or not I can get the bugs out of the latest SXCA (Some tech levels do not properly effect the SU's taken up by equipment).
   Roy
   Ironvein1@msn.com