Oh, it most certainly does. One or another design system -- FF&S, I believe -- introduced the concept of gravitic focusing to overcome this. Basically you generate a self-contained gravity envelope -- handwave, handwave -- which travels with the laser beam and keeps it focused over enormous distances. Upside: There's now a reason for near-misses to rock the ship, increasing drama levels. Downside: Not only does it seem to require magictech well beyond the Imperial norm, it makes you wonder why the gravity thingies themselves aren't the primary weaponry. Seems like a gravity gradient that sharp moving through a ship would cause a lot more damage than the laser would.
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