I felt the same way trying to finish ths game on Kestrel type A for 3 days BUT after finishing it on 2nd try on Kestrel Type B i desided that ill still play this game i dont know like 500 times more.
And i tell you it was guite the ride. Beam/ ION bomb/ drone/ boadring/stealth kestrel wich lost 2 times it's trained boarding crew (1 time forgot to spot shooting, 2d time ship warped out)/ i dont know how many times barley got alive out of combat and still it knoked out rebel MS... i dont know... it was fun i tell you
