My opponent in my last game had a suggestion, and I shot it down because I thought it screwed up the mechanics, but now I'm wondering if there's a way to do it:

His idea was to allow ships to switch between AP (which would be  what's depicted in their given profiles) and HE loads.  His idea being that going to HE would drop the gun down a dice size, but increases its damage by 1. Trying to mirror the real life tactic of employing different munitions against heavier OR lighter opponents.

Using his idea,  a D12 X2 would transform into a D10 X3 when using HE.  But I pointed out that this doesn't balance out.  Against a smaller target, you're getting better accuracy AND more damage. 

IE -- Against a medium opponent with 2 Armor at 6", a D12 Gun would have to roll an 11 (6+2 for armor+1 for range+2 for size).  A D10 would only have to roll a 9 (5+2 for armor+1 for range + 1 for size). So you go from a 16.667% chance of hitting to a 20% chance AND you're causing more damage.  It doesn't balance out.

So I'm wondering if you can apply a to-hit penalty.  Switch loads from AP to HE (optional rule of course).  Your damage goes up a notch, but you suffer a -1 to hit, representing the pause in gunnery/lost shooting time AND the fact that HE rounds have a harder time penetrating armor.  But you cause more damage.  A X2 shell becomes a X3. 

IE -- using my approach, a D12 (X2) Gun is trying to shoot that medium ship.  Now it needs a 12.  So its chances of penetrating go down.  But if it hits, it does more damage.  The D10 gun goes up to a 10 to hit. 

It's not for everyone.  I don't know if I would use it.  You're halving your chances to hit for a little bit more damage. But I was thinking it might be an optional rule to try out.