Gaming Systems
My personal gaming experience has shown the same conflict between hard and popular sci-fi. I have bounced between hard (realistic?) sci-fi and more cinematic portrayals. Here is a list of a few games in my collection and how they looked at space combat:
Star Fleet Battles (1979) – Based on the Joseph Franz Star Fleet Technical Manual this game is pure cinematic movement with barely a nod to reality
Mayday (1980) – Two dimensional vector movement for Adventure Class Ships in the (Classic) Traveller RPG setting
Book 5: High Guard (1980) – A supplement for (Classic) Traveller RPG it featured a highly abstracted game of starship combat suitable for Battle Class Ships
Star Wars: Star Warriors (1987) – Full cinematic
Star Cruiser (1987) – Hard sci-fi basis with vector movement
Full Thrust (1992) – Choice of cinematic or vector movement; setting-less with a robust ship design rules
Earth Force Sourcebook (1997) – Full Thrust for Babylon 5
Battle Rider (1994) – Vector movement for Traveller: The New Era RPG
Babylon 5 Wars (1997) – Though the show featured “realistic” vector movement, the game was more akin to Star Fleet Battles (obvious parentage)
Power Projection: Fleet (2003) – Vector movement given its basis on the Traveller RPG setting and Full Thrust
Federation Commander (2006+) – Streamlined Star Fleet Battles but the same “in-universe” cinematic movement foundation
A Call to Arms – Starfleet (2011) – A game of space combat in the Star Fleet Universe using Mongoose's "A Call to Arms" miniature system and ADB's "Star Fleet Universe"
UM006 Use Me Starship Battles (2011) – The sixth title in the excellent and expanding USE ME game system series concerns itself deep space and starship combat.
Star Wars: X-Wing Miniatures Game (2012) – Pure cinematic, using the FlightPath maneuver system.
Attack Wing – Star Trek (2013) – A tactical space combat miniatures game, using the FlightPath maneuver system.
Squadron Strike (2015) – Very realistic 3D portrayal; Kickstarter for Squadron Strike: Traveller. Also Honor Harrington Universe Saganami Island Tactical Simulator (2005).
Starmada: Unity Edition (2017) – Choice of cinematic or vector movement; setting-less and robust ship design rules
Stars and Lasers!! (2017) – This is a simple set of spaceship combat rules, which are meant to be a fast-play rules system for simulating combat between spaceships of all sizes and any manufacturer.
Triplanetary (2018) – Kickstarter delivery expected in July 2018 (a month ahead of schedule); vector movement around the Solar System
A Billion Suns (2021) – is a tabletop wargame of interstellar fleet combat, allowing two or more players to play out massive spaceship battles in any science-fiction universe they choose.
Finding the right balance between popular sci-fi and hard sci-fi gaming is tricky. For myself, games like Star Fleet Battles and its derivatives are fun because of the theme since when playing these games I am choosing theme over mechanics. Some of the more hard sci-fi games are fun with a bit or realism thrown in (like Mayday) but some go too far (Squadron Strike: Traveller) where the fun has a hard time overcoming the difficulty of rules and play.