the stacking argument is one of the most ridiculous things ever.
stacking ships: offers practically zero bonus'.
1.) your shooting will be a few cm closer. 2.) enemy shooting will be a few cm further
with a major drawback
1.) if your hit, YOUR SHIELDS DROP ON EVERY SHIP
2.) a direct NC hit can wipe out an entire squadron.
stacking torp salvos:
1) violation of the rules imho, because torps that touch other torps (friendly or enemy) are both removed.
stacking AC:
the only worthwhile argument. stacking keeps those massive tau waves from taking up as much space as a planet. also decreases wave size/formation abuse.
with no stacking allowed, the only issue would be as russ said, with ships in close order preventing a double broadside between them.
three possible solutions:
1.) if not in b2b, ships must be 5cm apart (like fantasy and 40k style). this allows a cruiser to fly between two close ships, but not a big bulky BB.
2.) bit your lip, either torp the ships in close-by formation, or board them.
3.) no *friendly* stacking. a single enemy ship may fly between your two bases, and unload that double broadside. obviously, two enemy ships cannot stack and fly between as that is a violation of "no friendly stacking"
feel free to comment/complain, or expand on this.
however, if someone wants fluffily explain that escorts are smaller than cruisers and sqeeze more of them between two ships in close-by formation, they're gonna have to argue for smaller flying bases for escorts.