First of all It'd would have to be a team game I think. Flanking your enemy is such a big part of the game that 1on1 battles would come down to ships countering each other instead of player skill.
With the Dark Souls formula advanced by others, it could indeed bring team-based, expanded battles (invaded/protectors vs invaders). I disagree with the lack of skills in duels however, i'm pretty sure a Hyperion/Afflictor/Wolf duel would require some impressive reflexes.
All skill points go to combat. Campaign-only stuff like Navigation is completely ignored.
If there was some form of campaign multiplayer, Navigation could actually become interesting. Not as a battle-winner skill of course, but playing hide-and-seek in an asteroid field with another player, while turning the transponder on and off to bait that Hegemony patrol passing by... A fairly niche utility at first, but a few smart manoeuvres could bring an enemy right where you want him.
Otherwise i more or less agree with your statements. I didn't knew much about Diablo 2, but after googling a few sorceress duel videos, yeah, that's what a Hyperion duel would probably looks like.
The whole deploy one ship to stale is indeed another possible griefing issue. Useful if the enemy deploy all at first, but fairly worthless (and time consuming) if the enemy expect it and decide to plays the same game.
Disagree with the other two. Chain-flagshipping won't be competitive as the advantage of soloing was to take advantage of the weakness (AI and skills) of the computer. You would end up fighting a smarter opponent, with the same skills and outnumbered on top of that (corner won't help much when fighting someone equally strong with backup). If you can somehow field 25 Paragons, it's also safe to assume the enemy can do it as well, so this'll require some more thinking to win.
P.S. What would the battle size be? Default? Whatever the player who started the game wanted?
No real rules, as long as it doesn't go in the completely absurd i guess.
A team deathmatch style battle in Starsector would turn into both battle lines keeping their distance and taking pot shots with HVRs and the like. Anyone who dared to do something different would get demolished. It'd be extremely boring. I could see some fun in flanking maneuvers but that's about it.
Yes and no in my opinion. A "pub" game would indeed be like that, no one want to take a bad hit, so it'll be a staring contest with long range weapons until one side get a clear advantage (MWO style). With organized teams however? We'll probably have something closer to a MOBA teamfight, with initiators, supports, etc. Depends on the ships loadouts i guess.
I disagree with the "just slightly troublesome" AI ships though. Predictable? Definitely. Harmless? Hell no. Left alone, they can potentially overrun your own fleet and surround you. Worse, they can also be geared as hunters, covered in Atropos and needlers, brute forcing your flagship from the start. The last forum tournament clearly showed that some fleets loadouts could drastically change how the battle plays.
Speaking of the Hyperion, i'm not that sure it would be the prime ship used for PvP. Sure, it can do things that no other ships can, but there's only so much a frigate, even with maxed skills, can do, before running out of CR. Not much to say about the Afflictor though, the ship is dangerous whether it's piloted by the the Player or AI, unless maybe you're meeting a beam spam fleet. Still, while those two are still formidable ships, i wonder if it wouldn't be better to trade for something bigger in larger engagements.