There is no up or down in space so two different spaceships don't need to have the same parts sticking in the same direction. amirite?

Not necessarily. In shortest terms in reference to a space battle, having the smallest silhouette/cross section/ and shooting at the largest silhouette/cross section, is ideal. Same principle of wooden naval ships at war. Harder to get hit while on approach, easier to hit a broadside target. Comparatively, with direct fire weapons, you would have to bring as many in line with the target as possible. So with space battles we can assume guided missiles would be a relevant weapon, so this can negate that requirement. True space battles would likely look like multiple ships all simultaneously trying to maneuver circles around each other at once.