Very good observation. In High Guard, surface hits basically don't matter...
Devin,
Re-read the section on fuel hits again. Surface hits are killers for ships under a certain size.
They either "spill" 1% of tankage or 10 dTons.
During the ct_starships Fighter Smoke Test at Yahoo Groups several years ago, fighters mission-killed their opponents primarily through fuel hits. If the fighters can hit - a very big if, as your excellent example earlier in this thread showed - a "swarm" of fighters costing roughly 80% of a warship's worth in MCr can mission-kill the warship in one combat round.
Have fun,
Bill