Not really, a ship with thrust 8 fighting a ship with thrust 6, in
vector, can rotate the main drive to the appropriate orientation,
execute a 6 point vector change, and spend the last point of thrust to
bring its single arc beams back onto the the target. The thrust 6
ship is incapable of closing the range. Unlike a wet naval vessel,
the ship need not point along its vector. In cinematic, single arcs
can still be sufficient, but the fight takes up a larger volume and
more time. You have to maneuver your vessel to make slashing attacks
at long range, from behind. You may not get a shot in every turn, but
your opponent is unlikely to have that many class-3's firing into the
AP, A, and AS arcs, unless all of your ships are optimised to fight
that way. With a larger thrust, you intercept the enemy further away
from his in-system target, so you have more time to deal with the
enemy, anyways(assumes some limits on when/where you can engage the
FTL drive).