[Polydamas]

Another thing which occurs to me is that very many space RPGs are inspired by things like Battlestar Galactica, Star Wars, Star Trek, and Andromeda. Saying that realistic space combat would be boring and depressing ("*rolls* *frowns* *rolls* due to damage to your radiators, you slowly cook to death in the days following the battle- I want each of you to give me a five-minute scene of your character writing their will before we end the campaign") is beside the point. Its an expected trope, like lockpicking as contest of wits or intricate criminal plots run by geniuses and not people too impulsive and violent to make it in business, too marginalized to have good options, or too young and stupid to realize that being a hit-man is a terrible career. And saying that players and GMs are wrong to want games with chases and gunfights between starships is not helpful.

Real WW II air and naval combat was pretty miserable ("they sunk us with one pair of depth charges? those flying boats are over-powered! killer GM!" "wait, he snuck up underneath us and blew us to pieces with cannons from a blind spot in our turret coverage? don't we get a saving throw?"), but the cinematic and comic-book version is something people enjoy hearing and telling stories about.

In the type of games Agemegos has in mind, good spaceship rules might be inspired by the Lair rules in GURPS which focus on what resources to solve plot problems the ship gives.