Exactly, score voting is just as vulnerable to tactical voting as any other method for that reason. For example, if the scoring range is 1-10, it's better for

Exactly, score voting is just as vulnerable to tactical voting as any other method for that reason. For example, if the scoring range is 1-10, it's better for me to use the full range even if none of the options on offer is really a 1 or 10. Using the full range gives my opinion more weight in the result. I strongly suspect score voting tends towards ranked voting when people vote tactically, which they always will, just with extra noise and randomness. (I don't know of any studies on this, though.)