[shinigami]

While that's not really a bad idea, it is a bit of a heavy handed solution and the rigid ship classes may turn some players off.

I like a solution of separating strategic and combat speed. By adjusting a ship's "Space Combat Maximum Speed Per Movement Point" you can keep the smaller ships useful into the late game. Frigates become fast little gunboats while dreads and baseships become great lumbering fortresses.

I've attached a zip file that contains an example file that you can drop into the Balance Mod. Also included is a modified CompEnhancement file that gives some addition range to the larger mounts to help balance things out.