[Thantis]

I'd also like to see a little more diversity in the AI's ship designs - since we have fleet formations, it would be nice to have true fleet-type units - escorts, missile ships, fleet defense ships, etc.

I recently had to adjust my playing style against an AI that had all long-range, fast missile-equipped cruisers. My baseships couldn't get within range (and my dreadnoughts only with great difficulty), and I was chewed apart piece by piece.

I started building Hunter-Killer BC's (12 speed) with a single large weapon to hunt down these annoying vessels, plus fleet defense ships (equipped with lots of Point Defense). I've yet to truly try this new force mix - as my Last battle against the 20-odd capital missile-equipped cruisers went better; my 6 baseships were able to survive long enough to corner the cruisers and inflict serious losses before being wiped out.