[DavidG]

I've been trying to make fighters and missle more usefull too. I think the basic problem with missles (and fighters) is they are obviously too easily destroyed. I've been giving them more hitpoints. Also I've made a few new missile types so that missile techology gets better as does point defense. (some types I've made:
Faster loading - fire every 2 turns
Shielded - gave it more hitpoints
Decoy - a small cheap missle designed to soak up point defense.
High Speed

I also made my missiles much faster since I think it makes sense that missiles are way faster than ships. I haven't tested them much yet so I"m not sure how effective my changes are yet.