Engagement Rules and Combat Resolution

I'm having issues with how to resolve spaceship combat without the use of maps, counters, miniature or tape measures.<br /><br />I've emailed a few of you for advice, thank you. Your replies say that a Referee is needed but I want to avoid that if at all possible.<br /><br />Any more ideas out there?<br /><br />One of my ideas covers the placement of ships into zones, which is viable but it does not cover ship to ship combat.<br /><br />Ships can fire at any other ships in their zone.<br />Large Capital ships can fire into the adjacent zones.<br />Supply ships, Assault Carrier and the like hang out in the &quot;Off the map&quot;.<br /><br /><img src="/files/u22/zonemap1.png" alt="Zone Map" width="450" height="389" /><br /><br />