It matters a lot.
No it doesn't. The CMs have more power left over after paying for speed.
it matters because it affects what other things each ship can do. the DN at speed 24 and overloads can't pay for batterries,at speed 8 it can pay for all overloads and batteries. At 16 or 8+ it can battery everything and fire standard loads (for several turns anyway).
If the DN stays at speed 8, then the CM that faces the DN never go into 8 range. One of them stays at the front of the DN at greater than 8 and the other goes around the DN and only closes to within 8 from the rear of the DN. There's a huge difference in expected damage output from range 8 and range 15 and the slow DN has no capability of stopping one of the CMs from reaching optimal fire range while the other one threatens the other side. Except for the HET which is expensive in energy and can be safely done only once.
Once you split up you can't effectively use the drones from both ships against the DN drones as you described earlier. 1 of the ships has to deal with upto 12 drones with no help, A single CM can only really deal with that by stepping away from the fight, run or use most weapons to shoot them down. That makes a serious dent in its ability to close and do anything useful.
What is 1 CM at less than 8 going to do? with the other CM on the far side. At range 8 with full overloads (so not able to go speed 24) it is doing 20 damage, -7 from batteries ie. 13 on a different shield to the other CM. The other CM is doing about 3 damage. The DN can stick to firing at the longer range CM for about 18 net damage, so it is still out damaging the CMs, and the CMs cannot afford to take more damage per turn especially if they are spreading there damage around different shields.
At best the closing CM can go to range 0 and do about 56 damage - 7 for 49 damage, about 19 internals. If you've had to use CM drones to kill the DN drones, the DN can still fire 11 ph3 and 3 ph1 without turning round, doing about 60 damage or about 30 internal. Thats pretty sad, the rear end of the DN can do more damage to the CM than it can do to the DN with its main weapons.
Mainly avoiding ph3s, you can close in to range 4 where you can do about 32 - 7 or about 25 (not even through the rear shield). However, you have committed a cardinal sin, with 1 CM in close and another to far to help (and on another shield anyway) the DN can HET, and close. You either turn and run taking an alpha up the backside whilst doing nothing back, or take a closer than the range 4 strike you were planning. A head on strike at range 1 (say) leaves you doing about zero internals (averges to exactly the front shield plus 7 battery) whilst taking upwards of 100 (70 internals) depending on what he has in arc. The 2nd ship is now out of position for hitting the downed shield and the DN can simply move away from the CM and increase speed next turn if it wants whilst it rotates shields and reposistons itself for dealing with the 2nd ship.
The basic math is that the CMs won't stay at range 15 at the same shield. It's likely the DN will be shooting at 16+ at one of them while the other one darts in at closer than 15 where the DN's weapons won't reach.
Mm, now you go from a range 8 split to a range 15 split. I think you are missing the point here, at range 15 your damage is so neglible in the face of 7 batteries that the DN isn't going down in a month off sundays (well ok, with no shield repair it takes about 38 turns for 2 CM to strip the DN of shields at that range). Just to be clear the DN does more average net damage to a single CM at range 16-25 than both CMs do to it at range 15, and the CMs are now splitting their minor damage across bigger shields. Even if the CM reinforces it is taking an average 7 whilst doing a split 6 to the DN. If you get it wrong and get hit at 15 the CM takes 18ish instead.
The DN can go speed 16 whilst doing that (8+ more likely). What the CMs do is up to them.
Not doing all the things you want it to do, firing all overloads and all phasers and and using 14 power to reduce incoming damage.
That was about long range dueling, overloads are not a factor at range 15. 14 for reinforcement, 12 for speed 8, 19 for disr and ph1 leaves 10 for accel. For 3 turns he can use 2 batteries to accel every impulse, not that he needs to at long range.
You need to check some of your assumptions. At point blank, it's true the DN will blow away a CM. However the CMs with 6 overloaded disrupters, 8 PH-1, and 4 PH-3 at range 1 will average 107 damage. That's a down 1 shield and 63 internals.
At least one of them will lose 7 to reinforcement (56 internal), at range 0 there is still a (not great) chance the second will also take 7 reinforcment. Given the CMs can't close at full speed with full overloads they may not be quite making range 0 either. At range 1 they drop to an average 90 damage with a good chance of having both volleys reinforced, for only 32 average internals.
We then get back to what does that do to the DN as discussed earlier- with 60 internals and an even spread of DAC rolls it loses (critical systems);
12 power
4 battery
2 drone
2 disr
5 ph3.
Undoubtedly that won't be the precise distribution, but it gives an idea.
It can repair 2 power with DC. Rotate 5 shield boxes (so it can reinforce for 3 again).
If that was at the end of the turn and the Cm is still right next to it, then next turn it can HET (making sure it is shield 2 or 6) and fire more than the CM can. Or it has enough power to go speed 32 (on thr above distribution) to pull away and use DC to get back systems and rotate shields around, and once at longer range again it is easier to keep that weaker shield protected from a single ship.
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