Actually, from what I saw, there's a very good chance these will be big minis. Some of the bigger ships occupied 3 to 4 hexes in a row! They would also be based on multi-hexed bases as well. Unfortunately, I did not get a chance to even try the rules, except for a 5 minute eavesdrop i did during one of the demos between games. That being said, it didn't help that the demo guy had a pretty thick German accent.
Regardless, I also can tell you that the game will be based in possibly D10 or higher, rather than Catalyst's usual D6. Guns are color coded for what kind of dice you roll at certain ranges. Also, Hits are scored per facing and after certain targets are hit (say drive engines or turrets), any further hits will cause breaching rolls, which are all sorts of nasty fun. Think a cross between the Hood and the Hindenburg exploding in midair. Also, from what I can tell, since this is pseudo-3D, LOS is only blocked if a ship is the same or larger class than you. Makes it so big ships are pretty ponderous. Also, there are things like aerial torpedoes and tesla coils.
It does take some cues from the anime series Last Exile possibly (only not so heavily steam-driven and set in a alternate-Earth setting).
