Condottiere
Emperor Mongoose
Just double-checked. The current revision of the MgT2 Core book has removed the sentence:
"In addition, spacecraft of 100 tons or more are not
designed for this kind of ‘knife-fight’ and will suffer
DM-6 on all attack rolls they attempt."
Possibly because I made a stink (or whiny tantrum?)...
So with that removed, what you say is true and there is... balance in the Force??? ... well at least starships are no longer destined to automatically suffer a death of a thousand cuts from a fighter dogfight.
If you have the latest version of the Core book they work okay and have a reasonable role and a reasonable effect. - at least if you're not using vector movement, but that's another ball of earwax.
Dogfighting Modifiers
Dogfighter
Ship is 50 tons or more -1
Ship is 100 tons or more -2
For every 100 tons more than 100 tons -1
For every additional enemy in the dogfight after the first -1
Ship’s Thrust +1 per point of Thrust dedicated to dogfighting
You can have dedicated flugabwehrkanone platforms escorting important vessels, so whereas the smallcraft might be able to outmanoeuvre them, getting that far might be a challenge.