I think that instead of enemy ships being judged by your ship's level, it should be judged by the player's level.

Example:
If my ship is level 58, and the enemy ship is level 58, it would appear as pushovers (gray color) [And I dunno why it appears gray] but sometimes the enemies would appear to be stronger.

This really fools me sometimes, thinking "Oh, the ship name is gray. They're gonna be easy!" And then I come out with a dead companion because I'm like 2 levels behind.
(Don't worry, this was before when I started Aquila on my buccaneer, so I'm fine now.)