Do you have Version 1.15? If not, get it!
(Though there does seem to be a bit of a bug with reactor charge rates on certain timescales that Aaron never got around to fixing ... don't know if it was in 1.08 or not but it's definitely in 1.15
)
OK, got the patch? Then look for these lines in your CampaignData.txt:
code:
Collision Damage Source Include Hull := TRUE
Collision Damage Source Include Shields := TRUE
Collision Damage Target Include Hull := TRUE
Collision Damage Target Include Shields := TRUE
Collision Damage Source Amount Factor := 1.00
Collision Damage Target Amount Factor := 1.00
See those Last two lines? Set them to smaller numbers to reduce ramming damage - so if you want collision damage to be reduced to 10% of its value, set them to 0.10; if you want to eliminate it entirely and let ships fly through each other (and presumably also through planets, and asteroids, and stars 
) set it to 0. It's that easy! 
(Oh, and by the way, those other lines control whether shields and hull count for producing ramming damage, in addition to armor... remember how in SE4 the ramming ship didn't get to use its shields, but the target did? Well now you can control that! )
edit: replaced "armor" with "hull" and clarified a bit
[ February 16, 2004, 19:08: Message edited by: Ed Kolis ]