No spill over on Escorts is probably the worst idea EVER.
I hope you are joking Admiral because if not, you really have no concept of any sort of game balance then.
No, I am not joking. Yes, I do bring escorts. My IN brings at least 2 3-ship escort depending on the game size. Bigger games, those 2 squadrons go max. No concept of game balance? Why would no spill over on escorts affect game balance?
Because of this line of yours: "If these were the rules there would be no reason to not just spam Ork Ravagers since they could never all be stopped...or even an entire fleet of Ram ships." Solution, bring escorts of your own. Then maybe we'll actually see more of them on the table.
As for 24 escorts shooting torps at a cruiser, that is what would happen if you decide to not bring escorts or anything to deal with them in the first place.
I do not see a reason why one would have one rule for cap ships and another for escorts. I already included a way for spillover to happen. When ships are in B2B because they're in a small tight area. Anything more than that and spillover shouldn''t be happening.
Spillover on escorts are a big disadvantage for escorts, would make people think "why should I bring them when a couple of WB shots can kill them with spillover so might as well bring mostly cruisers?" which makes a player take less of them and perpetuate the bringing of cap ships (unless a race is escort dependent like Eldar, Orks and Nids). Makes a player "lazy" in the sense they do not bring escorts and rely on the resilience of cap ships and spillover to handle the escorts.
So spam away your Ravagers if you want. Hell, that IS what Orks are supposed to be. An escort heavy fleet. Doesn't mean you can't lose. Heck from your statement, spillover is the one keeping you from taking these kinds of lists which means you're being limited. Wouldn't it be better that you can bring these kinds of lists?
I do quite know about the concept of game balance, thank you. I understand the concept of 1 target, 1 kill and not 1 target, kill X more targets, not unless one is using AoE weapons and the WBs even with their description, aren't really true AoE weapons. They still fire at a specific area defined as the base of a target. Why would something a couple of cm away be affected unless it is an AoE weapon like an NC or AG? I play Warmachine-Hordes, a more cutthroat game rules-wise yet more tactically challenging than BFG. Whether one plays jack/beast heavy or infantry heavy, everything is viable. The same should be the case here. All the factions should have viable reasons to bring cap ship heavy, balanced or escort heavy and be reasonably expected to have a chance to win.
You want to kill more than 1 target with 1 cap ship, split fire. Other methods are use AC, use torps and especially, use more escorts.
So before you accuse someone of not having an inkling about game balance, look at yourself in the mirror first and see if you understand the same concept.