Re: [Campeign Creation Project] Pirates of the Naebbirac Astroid Belt
Actually, it's not that lunatic, and it protects against a possible last ditch defense.
If you destroy a ship's thrusters first, it can't do a last minute dodge to avoid the pirate swarm, and provided the pirates have maneuvering belts or guns, jumping between two ships with matched velocities wouldn't be too dangerous. And the target ship wouldn't want to blow their fusion plant just to take out some boarders - which would be a definite temptation if the pirate was docked.
As for the hacking - if the airlocks aren't networked in (and there's no real reason for them to be) you could only hack them by reaching the hull anyway. Might well be easier, as well as quicker, to use a boarding charge.