3 Im having a tough time figuring out "maneuverability" of ships..is it tied to top speed or is this stat just hidden? If hidden, it should most definitely be listed under the ship stats along with top speed. The Castle was FAR more ponderous then i expected it to be.
There are five maneuverability-related statistics for each ship in the game - a maximum linear speed, a maximum rotational speed, two linear accelerations, and a rotational acceleration. However, knowing the values probably isn't going to tell you how a ship 'feels;' it's one thing to know that the Onslaught has a turn rate of 4 degrees/s, a rotational acceleration of 4 degrees/s^2, a max speed of 25 distance/s, and both linear accelerations set to 10 distance/s^2, and another thing to know that the Onslaught and the Conquest, with its maximum turn rate of 6 degrees/s, turn acceleration of 4 degrees/s^2, maximum linear accelerations of 20 and 15 distance/s^2, and maximum speed of 45 distance/s - stats which don't look all that much better - feel quite different. Then compare that to a high-end frigate like the Tempest, with a maximum speed of 200 distance/s, maximum linear accelerations of 200 and 175 distance/s^2, maximum turn rate of 90 degrees/s, and rotational acceleration of 270 degrees/s^2. How well do the numbers convey the differences in maneuverability to you? My guess would be not that well; most people do not have a good sense of how numbers, especially accelerations, translate to reality (or, as in this case, a simulation).
In the end, you really just have to spend some time flying the ships to see how they feel and to see which ones you like to fly; the various missions are somewhat good for this (kind of, anyways; the character skills that mess with maneuverability can change how each ship feels), as they give you access to a wide variety of ships (though not, at present, all of them) to throw into the simulator and just fly around or fight simulated opponents or actually play through the mission and get a feel for how the ship flies.
4 Target Analysis I dont understand what the base skill does at all, as its not a mechanic thats mentioned or explained anywhere.
Armor isn't just another HP pool; when a shot hits armor, the damage is reduced by a factor of [shot damage]/([armor] + [shot damage]) before damage is applied to the armor - i.e. actual damage to armor is [shot damage]^2 / ([armor] + [shot damage]). Target Analysis increases the the shot damage for the purpose of damage reduction, which probably means that if you have a bonus of +10% from Target Analysis then the formula is modified to 1.1 * [shot damage] / ([armor] + 1.1 * [shot damage]) for damage reduction, or 1.1 * [shot damage]^2 / ([armor] + [shot damage]); it's possible that the damage is (1.1 * [shot damage])^2 / ([armor] + 1.1 * [shot damage]), though I'd consider that doubtful since the skill specifies that the bonus is for the purpose of damage reduction only.
6 Advanced Tactics seems pretty weak requiring significant investment in it to see any return.... I rarely use more then 3 or 4 command points in any battle...and the cancel orders doesnt always recover your points.
The value of Advanced Tactics is dependent upon how you play. Big carrier fleets, especially well-managed carrier fleets, really like to have command points to spend, mostly on grouping up the bombers before each run and for specifying the target of each run; four or five Dagger or Piranha squadrons striking a capital ship en masse, particularly from the right direction (i.e. somewhere on the rear half of an Onslaught, or on the side furthest from the shields of a distracted Conquest, or coming in from several angles at once on a Conquest that has no other major threats; if you want to overload rather than kill or cripple, then change the direction so the attack comes in over top of the probable location of the target's shields), are a lot more dangerous than the same four or five squadrons making piecemeal runs on targets of opportunity or as individual fighters finish rearming. Most other fleets can usually get away with just the basic number of command points plus the handful you gain through capturing, though you can usually find a use for spare command points even if you don't really need more.