Oh dear god-emperor that is bad. But also kinda makes sense for the situation? Measuring time in year-fractions instead of date would make a lot more sense on any planet other than Earth, and using local days would make things far too messy.
The Youtuber Brandon F has a 4 part series talking about why they fought like this. Spoiler- it wasn't because they were stupid.
TLDR- if you split up you just get run down by enemy cavalry.
TLDR- a close formation lets you concentrate your firepower at one point.
TLDR- a close formation makes communication and controlling the army much much easier (or even possible at all).
TLDR- the formation makes the troops less likely to run away.
I mean, EVE hasn't gone anywhere, it still has a large and active playerbase, there's nothing stopping you from joining now.
Yeah I think you're spot on with this. What people consider monsters would vary depending on who they are, which is usually ignored in worlds where what is or isn't a monster has some kind of mechanical significance (TTRPGs looking at you).