In my opinion, the disengagement rule works. The biggest reason why I think this is because it gives underplayed races/sides a better chance to hold onto important strategic places. If my race/side decides that planet Alpha must be held and we have half the number of pilots as our opponent, the disengagement rule gives us the opportunity to run off the enemy for a set period of time so we can reinforce the DVs or even attempt to take back some of the surrounding hexes. This can be applied to assaults on breaking LOS, planets, bases, whatever. It gives the underplayed race/side a chance to defend a given area with PvP instead of trying to match mission times (# of pilots) with their opponent.
That's it. That's the main benefit IMHO. You WILL NEVER stop the hex-munchers out in open space. Hell, this one spot that you have decided to defend may be the only spot you have left in your empire!!!
That's the trade-off. You either try to out-hex-munch your opponent or you make certain spots so f*ing dangerous for them to assault. Isn't this the reason why most servers have been placing Victory points on planets, starbases, etc. The admins are looking to promote highly contested areas where PvP, and only PvP will decide who ultimately keeps them. Seems that way to me. Of course, PvP defenders don't always succeed. When one race/side has enough pilots to flip a hex while the defenders are still fighting their PvP missions, its a mute point. Yer screwed!!
Get over it, it's a game, you don't always win!!
As for the specifics of the disengagement rule, I have always been a proponent of equal time penalty for both disengaging and ship loss. It's the time period that is important here. If you allow a pilot to have a reduced penalty because he got his ship killed, pilots who fly disposable hex-flipper ships don't really suffer any REAL penalty. Yeah, yeah, I know. If you lose your ship and have the full time period, some people think its a double hit. You're right, but if you reduce the ship replacement penalty, maybe more pilots would f*ing get over it. Replacement value 80% or higher of original. If you lost a heavy cruiser in the mission, you most likely would get a lesser heavy cruiser in return. The admins probably have a pretty good idea what percentage would help here.
Another point I have about pilots bitching about losing their ship and having a FULL disengagement time penalty, if you're so worried about losing that ship in a mission you should not have bought it in the shipyard. GET OVER IT! IT'S A GAME!! THINGS DON'T ALWAYS GO THE WAY YOU WANT!!
Final point. As for everyone always mentioning the Kzinti FIRST as the one race that needs to have their hex-munching abilities restricted, ALL RACES HAVE HEX-MUNCHERS!! I have flown every Starfleet race over the last year and a half, and I have found ships in every arsenal that I could fly AI missions in 2:00, give or take :10. EVERY RACE!! I believe Hexx mentioned this earlier in this thread. Granted, the Kzinti droner show up very early and only get better, but that's what they do. That's their specialty!! Every race can duplicate those fast mission times using the right ships, ship combos, etc., in some era. If you don't know your empire's ship that fly quick mission, ask a veteran pilot.
Well, that's it for now. I'll rave and rant some more later.