brawling would be no fun if it was easy. I don't know the best way to phrase it, particularly considering that I'm hardly the most experienced pilot, but, well.. just the fact that your brawling build doesn't work for your team does not mean that brawling is no longer a viable strategy. Yes, the balance has made certain tactics and builds less effective but in my opinion "turret fighting", while perhaps more common than it should be, is nothing like the best tactic and brawling remains pretty viable. In fact in my experience the most mobile and versatile teams who show the most willingness to adapt, to develop new plans midway through matches and surprise their enemies tend to come out on top.
I think that the frequency of sniping is not due to its superiority as a strategy but because many players consider close or midrange engagements too risky, especially in important competitive matches. And that risk is due to the unpredictability inherent in brawls being decided too quickly. While I think this risk is a good thing and should remain, I don't think faster ships would make brawling better, since the risk would remain, and possibly increase, and many teams will still prefer to take the safer option of a slow engagement at long range, presuming you managed not to obsolete sniping completely.
Of course, faster ships might just slow down engagements because it's even easier to dodge the finish. I personally don't think it's good for the pilot to have that much evasion capability. They are only one member of a 4 man crew yet already have a hugely disproportionate share of the power and responsibility to control their ship's fate - if gunning is becoming increasingly important then I'm not going to complain.
