For the record, the instant turns are (semi?-)justified by the Lodestones. I can believe that they could turn nearly instantly, or rather close enough to prevent aiming of cannons during a turn. It makes as much sense as anything else that lets us turn that fast.
You forget about inertia.
The game rules are an abstraction. They also don't implement, for example, us having internal organs, but that doesn't mean we don't have them.
Doesn't change the way it feels. Currently it feels very separated. And when you have rules contradict the feel of the game, without changing the reason for why it feels that way, immersion suffers.
Wait, weren't you advocating for a square grid just now?
The ranges would be indicated either by sectors (for MGs) or by straight lines (for cannons). Is the enemy ship inside this sector? If yes, it can be fired upon. Pretty easy, if you ask me.
You forgot the difficulty increase as the range does and the special effects and the obstacles.
I still entirely fail to see the problem. More range = larger sector. Obstacles = ...uh, it's easier to draw.
So what is the problem?
The problem is this:
"Turn right 22.5 degrees, tilt up 15 degrees, reduce speed by 1."
So then I have to translate a sector upwards across several levels of 3d space as represented by 2d planes. And I have to do that while taking into account the 3d grid movement of the other ship, laying in their plane transversing movement sectors and looking to see if, at any time during this simultaneous but uneven speeded movement, one or more lines of fire intersect. And lets not forget momentum, modifiers for difficulty of hitting while moving, and a dozen other things that will inevitably come up.
Thats not the game I want to create and it's not a game I want to run. I'm not aiming for warhammer, if anything I'm aiming for something more like Dust Tactics. I want something that is satisfying but is also relatively simple. I do not want this to devolve into people fighting spreadsheets with a 50 page list of tables to consult.
And thearpox, would you mind showing me what you want movement and shooting to look like on a hex grid? Because Moving north in a straight line seems like a problem.