What System for Ship Combat do you use for 3E?

To List members that play 3E version of spelljammer.

Over the last two years I have tested a few systems to resolve ship to
ship combat. I have found that each had it strengths and weakness to it
and have wondered how others have handled ship to ship combat in 3e. I
will bring up a few points that my players had with some of the systems
used. I also would like to hear how other DMs have handled 3E
spelljammer in their campaigns.

First is to use a system that had 50 or 100 yards to a hex/square... but
the players being the smarmy people they are stated that each hex/square
would be a -15 or -30 to spot checks and that at a distance of even more
then hexes/squares characters would not even be able to make their spot
checks to see another ship let alone fire upon it. Another disadvantage
to large hexes is that ships that move 1 hex per tactical speed rating
or such are soooooo much faster then most critters; this is the one
reason I have moved away from this system as once a ship decides to
avoid combat with a slow moving critter the critter has little chance of
catching a ship that moves 150 to 300 feet per tactical speed rating.
About the only way to explain this away and allow critters that are slow
moving to 'keep' up with ship is that it is caught up in the ships
gravity field and is dragged along no matter what the ships tactical
speed (this assumes the critter is smaller then the ship). One of the
initial reasons I like the 50/100 yard hex/square system was that most
ships can fit within such.

Another system I been working with is a variation on D20 Spelljammer
with hexes instead of squares and each hex being 40 feet across (instead
of the 30 feet to a square). The reason to use 40 feet was more to
accommodate long distance spells that have 400 feet + 40 feet per level.
This also made it easy to use fireballs as they have a 20 ft. radius (40
feet across the diameter) and the ships could be sectioned off into 40
feet sections.  This system has seemed to serve me the best so far as
many of the critters in space are able to keep up with the ship's
tactical speed (ranging anywhere from 40 feet to 240 feet).

I have also done away with wildspace creatures having two different
speeds (tactical/flight), their speeds the same be it in an atmosphere
of a planet or that in wildspace during tactical speed combat and that
being their flight speed. I am working it so that all creatures from my
campaign having flight and are born in wildspace (such a star selkies
and such) to be updated with 40 feet increment of flight (for easy of
combat in space) if and when I finally decide to keep 40 per hex/square
(which seems very likely).

I have since 2E spelljammer enjoyed hexes more then squares for combat and have continued to prefer hexes. 

Mark T. Doolan
The Shattered Fractine
http://www.shatteredfractine.com