[(E)]

Wouldn't it be possible for a force shield to be deployed so that a high velocity ramming vehical struck it at a 45° angle or better? It might also be possible for better than 5° angle. Explosive missiles would have unchanged effects as would beams but kinetic effects (such as plain vanilla hard to spot space junk when travelling at speed) would be defused more efficiently. To further tie it in to the OP a larger mass ship would have benefits in soaking up the kinetic energy.