I dont think its impossible to survive some battles without dying, depends on your tactics. When u have an higher class ship u can get many traders etc down when they are not escaping or youre on the faster ship and u fight them 1 by 1 not all in 1 battle. Just need to pick your targets and dont fight higher class ships. That system would punish captains who know how to sail and fight or the 1 who knows when to fight or not. i dont have to go into an battle where i might wanna loose. Dont get me wrong you have to deal with it but i think thats the wrong way.
just my 2 cent