Some pre-newbie questions

[Suicide Junkie]

That's a good point.
If you are already ahead on the To-Hit thing, the extra little bit from a small hull has a big effect...

Say your enemy had 80% to hit. Going down two hull sizes makes that 60%. Probably not worth it.

But, say you are a defensive race, well trained, and using the armors, so there is normally a 30% to-hit. Going down two hull sizes makes the to-hit 10%, so you're taking 1/3rd the damage, and you'll kick *** bigtime.