Is a ship allowed to try and overlap another ship or does it have to do another maneuver if that would not make it overlap and only overlaps if it can do nothing else?
Overlapping, can you do it if you want?
It can try to overlap. Perfectly valid way of causing damage.
Think of it as an intentional ramming maneuver if that helps.
Intentionally ramming an enemy ship is a perfectly valid tactic.