Secondly, and just as cool, lets do an illustrated blow by blow on plotting a course. This won't include clever orders from your commander, or fighter squads, just a commander attempting to pilot a ship that weighs slightly more than Blenheim Palace through a tricky stretch of space.
The Infinity Carrier ELDRIS is on the near side of System SERA5. It mission is to maneuver through the system to the far said and recover a Fleet Com asset. (Fig 2)
As Carriers are not the most maneuverable of ships, lets take this slow. The commander plots a course that will hopefully take the ship forward and between the two contacts on the board: The asteroid field and the Planet. The ELDRIS only has 6 Movement points so the commander puts down only 2 cards. (Fig 3)
Flipping them over 1 at a time and moving according tot he card, we see that the commander has ordered half speed ahead. This moves the ship ahead (3 Hexes). This might be a mistake however because of the next maneuver, a turn to Starboard. Because this is an Infinity Carrier the ship slews to starboard but its inertia carries it along its original course before any movement can be applied to correct it. Any faster, and you risk either blacking out the crew, or shearing the ship apart (Fig 4 - 5).
Now, we have a problem. Because of inertia, the last card played in a course becomes the first card in the next course if able. Right now, the turn to starboard is going to carry the ship through another 60 degrees to starboard before the navigator can counteract the spin. Not so bad, if it didn't also carry ship into orbit of Planet SERA5, whose orbit is full of dangerous debris. Acting fast, the commander orders emergency stop, firing all thrusters and bringing the ship to a dead stop near planet SERA5. However, remember what I said about damaging the ship? Welp, in this case the commander would roll a command die (not covered yet, we'll get there). If he succeeds, the green penalty happens. If he fails, the Red penalty happens. These only lasts for the turn the order was given on, unless it’s structure damage: That’s permanent! (Fig 6 - 7)
It may have damaged the ship, but now the ELDRIS is in perfect position to punch it directly between the two objects in its way. Seeing this, the commander needs only to plot a one-card course: Flank Speed. This takes the ELDRIS between the objects and clear of the system on course to his mission objective. (Fig 8)
I hope this gives you an idea of what to expect when plotting your courses. Some ships have more advanced maneuver cards, some ships have much more movement speed, while others (looking at you dreadnought) have a LOT less, pirouetting across the engagement zone like hippos strapped to off balance unicycles (this may have been the entirety of my last game, bluh).
Now though, imagine the ELDRIS had 3 fast attack frigate bearing down on her when her EMERGENCY STOP (fig 6-7) caused her to lose power to her ECM suite, each looping around the planet and using their defensive guns to clear out debris... It only gets harder from here commander. Its going to be a wild ride.