I find it distressing....

[geoschmo]

Ok, here's my theory, of course it is based only the limited info I have.

I would guess his ships had extensive organic armor, as well as shields combined with organic weapons and Point defense. IIRC organic armor is pretty tough to crack with standard beam weapons, and regenerates damage during combat? Somebody correct me on that point if I am wrong.

If he had enough PDC's to handle your missles, his organic weapons probably took a heavy toll on your beam ships that would have to close to fire.

If you saved the turn right after the combat you should have acess to combat replay where you can see exactly what happened. At the very least you can use the combat sim and approximate the number and type of ships on each side. Now that you have faced those ships in battle you have a description of their design, armaments, etc.

Geo