[quote=Cale Tucker]
Retreating using FTL making strategy has the same amount of strategy as laying your pencil down without dropping it after sharpening it. It doesn't take a genius to run
[/quote]

It does take a genius to stop a fleet from retreating (depending on their type of FTL). Since warp drive works entirely in real space, if the fleet was surrounded, then it would be horrific if they jumped out. Ever read about what happens if a baseball hits a planet at near light speed? Turns out the entire star system is destroyed due to a chain reaction started by the planet turning into plasma. Retreating at FTL speeds while surrounded would be a very, very bad idea compared to just letting yourself die. Of course, there might be gaps, which the retreating fleet would need to identify and exploit before being obliterated. 

Restrictions on FTL should be placed by the players, not the staff. This RP has a different FTL for basically every species, it's not like Star Trek where everyone uses a vaguely defined magic engine that make ships go at the speed of the plot. I personally like to go over the limitations and dangers of my Warp Drive. For example, if a ship does not move radiation and particle buildup to the aft section, then it will literally vaporize a system. If it's not perfectly positioned, it will vaporize a system behind it. Both of those result in the loss of the ship. If the system that moves particles to the back is damaged (thus making it not move particles at all), then the ship will be instantly shredded by the subatomic particles that pop in and out of existence in a vacuum. Basically, warp drive is extremely dangerous for pretty much anyone anywhere. As is firing a railgun (we all know the quote from Mass Effect 2).

These problems could create great story. Imagine a merchant vessel accidentally destroying an outlying trading post? That's war material right there. If not war, then reparations equal to the value of an entire solar system. To pay them back for that, the UTF would quite literally have to give the entire Sol system to whoever operated that trading post. There could be a wreckage field spread out over light years over the years, every ship sent to it mysteriously disappearing. An ancient railgun slug could begin to fall towards an inhabited planet, forcing an alien ship to sacrifice itself to save the colony in a declaration of good faith. Sure, those are unlikely, but they [i]can[/i] happen. So we can have them happen here.