[PvK]

I've never noticed the AI cheating on speed. Are you sure there weren't two colony ships? Did you watch the movement replay?

It has been my experience that as long as my ships have the same speed and move the same number of sectors to a target, they will both enter the same combat. Are you sure the distance travelled was the same for both, and that both had the same speed?

As for interception, it can sometimes be annoying, but after you see how it works, it is more or less consistent and has a logic to it, that at least to me makes more sense that turn-based, in most cases. I think it's not perfect but I think it's ok, and I very much prefer it to turn-based, especially since it lets you play with X players without multiplying the time to complete a turn by X PBEM exchanges.

PvK