Take a deep breath SkipRat. This has been a bone of contention for some time. I've been in my FDL with 4 pips to ENG and had an Adder (which is technically 2 steps lower on the maneuverability scale) out-turn me. I was told I wasn't flying it right as well. That I should be using FA Off, that I should be in a smaller more nimble ship, blah blah blah. Somewhat like you, I've played several thousand computer games in my lifetime. I have issues with very few. Since 2.1 dropped, I've only killed three ships and died eight times. The AI cheats. I don't know if this is because of Engineer enhancements, or by design, or a bug, but AI ships perform at a level beyond their stated capabilities. It seems to be tied to combat rating. On one account (the one I mentioned above with only three kills, I'm "Dangerous". On my other account I'm "Competent" and can out fight ships without too much trouble. Put another way, if I encounter AI in the same ship class with identical AI combat rating, on two accounts, I can win one fight and lose the other. That's a disparity I have issues with. The further I progress, the harder I have to work to maintain momentum. There comes a point where that is no longer fun.