Are the battleships useless ?

[jammi]

Is it possible to nerf only the damage to specific targets? For example to nerf the damage cruisers deal to battleships?

Technically yes, using shield modifiers. Each capital ship class could be given its own weapon damage type - basically, the way positron/gravitron shields work with modifiers against laser/plasma/tachyon, etc.

So cruisers could be made less effective against battleship shields, or large capital ships could be penalised against transports if that was so desired. Whether that's a good idea is a whole different matter.

Mind you, the modifier would only apply to shields, and shields are pathetically easy to strip off for battleships, so it might not even make that much of a difference outside 1v1 fights.