Question about combat resolution

[Grobog]

I had a question about the combat resolution during boarding actions.
I have a level 27 military officer on normal difficulty with Str 18, Warrior 18, quickness 26, and stealth 22, riding in a flagship carrier with the leviathan boarding system (+8).
I encountered a level 17 merchant in an Escape shuttle from the faction I was looking to mess with so I moved in close and bombarded with my guns a few times. The ship had only a few hull points left and no guns so I attempted to board figuring my 100+ guys could handle his 10 dudes.
The first round I damaged the enemy captain. The second round my ship went from 28 engines to 12.
It seems no matter how vast the power disparity between the parties, you will usually take massive damage in any boarding action making them completely worthless.
I have found that it is safer to move in close and attack their engines until they are disabled when you are in a situation where you want to capture the enemy or loot their cargo.
Is this intended?

[The Unreal Fire]

Maybe merchant has genetically engineered supersoldiers with hi-tech superweapons? Or maybe they were aliens in disguise. Who knows...

[RushSecond]

Same thing happened to me, only more tragic. Was playing a lvl 10 bounty hunter, decided my 13 (+8) warrior and 16 weapons was enough to justify boarding a merchant with 3 engines and no guns. Then I instantly went from 12 hull to 0, game over.

EDIT: it's possible the damage is caused by the other ship ramming. But still, the risk involved with getting close to an enemy ship is clearly too high.