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[Gaizokubanou]

From what little I know of engineering and size constraints, this seems to play a very big part in small craft. There is often an optimal design or scale that accompanies a principle employed in engines or any other mechanical device. The more room you allocate to the engine the more complex it can be. While the total percentage of space might be the same for both a fighter and a frigate, the frigate has a lot more total sum space to work with. You can do things with such space that would be precluded from the fighter due to its size. Likewise, while the same percentage of space might be allocated for a capital ship's engines as a fighter's, the sheer complexity, the ability to push past thresholds of energy might allow for an exponential  increase in speed relative to its size.

I think this has to do with the economics of scale and the technology available. Getting the same efficiency in a very small system as the large one requires a great deal more technical expertise and technology than the large one. Given that there are limits to both of these, the bigger engine will probably out perform the smaller one generally.

Yes, I understand and agree with the design efficiency having certain size limit & requirement.

However...

Why install bigger and more complex engines that pushes beyond that optimum threshold?  What I was suggesting was just installing more of the most efficient engine size.  Hence my concern that such ships would become really "wide" as it gets bigger

[UrbanGiraffe]

I think the 'real-life' mechanic being represented by the abrupt boost is the redirection of energy from the shields to the engines, which seems pretty reasonable. A smooth curve would make it seem like what's controlling the speed (particularly when the shields are up) is something silly like air resistance, obviously not present in space. If modular engines were added, then having varying accelerations and tiers (or no tiers) would be a logical step, but for now the system seems pretty realistic and enjoyable. Frankly, the difference between a curve and constant seems completely negligible, since speed reaches its cap quite rapidly anyway.