I seriously doubt any currently known material can protect against anything but lasers.  The sheer delta-V required for these weapons would make them absolutely devastating. On the other hand this is fiction and we can use the willing suspension of disbelief to not worry about this. So armor has some use and the energies involved won't be catastrophic enough to rarely need a second hit. I am completely okay with that. I mean we have other pop science or fantastic elements already so a bit of lenience for the sake of more enjoyable space battles is welcome.

Anyways, I described it as similar to the mix of fighters and submarines because maneuvering is a priority and so is the kind of cat and mouse sensor and predictory race within the thin confines of a sealed ship which is typical to these two armament types. Realistically it'd be the world's most complex math problem to fight in space and predict the actions of the enemy or throw off their calculations. Of course I am not against some Space Opera style fun, just saying.

I suppose describing it as modern naval combat with fighter like speed differentials would be more appropriate here. You can definitely outrun attacks like aircrafts do while multi layered defense and offense would be also relevant.