[Barnacle Bill]

I think the missile dance itself is a lot more realistic than than having to stop after you fire. Again, in real life if you are both faster than your opponent and have longer ranged weapons than you win without getting your hair mussed. Ask Crassus, or anybody who ever fought the Mongols.

As to the reality of the movement system, it is only realistic if you assume Newtonian physics still apply. "Inertialess" drives are pretty common in science fiction.

I don't see the big problem with decoys, either. They cost a lot in the long run, and you have to maintain them, too. It would also not be that hard to program the AI to consider the various ships involved in the combat as well as their ranges in deciding who to use opportunity fire on, perhaps with a small random element to make it more unpredictable.

Another thing which could be done without sacrificing realism, actually increasing it, it to move to a proportional movement system in tactical combat. The idea here is that instead of going the entire turn on an "igo-ugo" basis, the turn is divided into a number of "impulses" equal to the fastest tactical speed the game will support. If a ship has that maximum possible speed, it can move one square every impulse. If it has 1/2 the maximum speed, it can move 1 square every other impulse, etc... A ship that doesn't move when it has the opportunity loses that MP for the turn. Weapons still only fire once per turn (or less, for those with reload times greater than 1 turn). However, any unit can fire in any impulse whether it moved or not. The impulse has two phases, first movement, then fire, and all fire in the same impulse is simultaneous. This will solve the "missile dance" issue in a way that increases realism, rather than decreases it.