Slitherine

I really think something is wrong somewhere, because every alien ship I am seeing is super fast, even though their technology is well below mine.

I mean, here I'm looking at a freighter that can move at speed 12.38. I've seen fully armed capital ships moving over 5, and mine limp along at maybe 2, with the finest engines I can build.

Is this a bug? Are alien ships really supposed to be whizzing around the galaxy this fast?

This is not unusual. Nor is it unusual to see REALLY slow ships. It all depends on the tech of the era. I have had fleets with BBs scooting along at 6+ while the CAs creep in at 3.75.

And if you get out to the end of the tech tree, things can get crazy. Ever notice that when you have researched all of the tech tree that you still have not researched 100% of it?....smirk....

This looks like a scout ship. For AI it contains only engines and fuel cells, not even containers. And Gavaken hull allows for quite a lot of engines.

Looking at saved games I receive from time to time from players, I saw frigates with 20+ speed