[Starhawk]

Well another problem is that I deploy PDC ships along with my ships of the line.
My ships of the line are not armed with PDCs at all and devote all their space to heavy weaponry while my PDC ships provide that nasty anti fighter/drone/missile punch.

Of course I only have the demo so I know that some of the technical issues may be different but in my exerpience a light cruiser with like 12+ PDC cannons add 6 or more of these in a large fleet and add the defensive structure of heavy shields+ if you have combat sensors you can likely kill drones and your combined arms fleet would be chewed up because once my warships closed with your missile ships and brought their full gun arsenal to bare your warships would be destroyed. Then I'd move on to the carriers and transports which would be effectively defensless against my ships.

Sure I'd likely lose a few ships to such a large number of drones missiles and fighters but if I also have my own fighter support PLUS the firepower of my PDC ships then most of your fighters wouldn't make it into killing range, your drones would be the largest threat and since they can be brought down by normal guns it would be likely that with overwhelming guns I could neutralize enough of them to prevent a signifigant loss of ships. Oh and if your drones are still far enough out when my PDCs reload then their firepower+ those of fighters and big guns would probobly make your fleet so weak that it wouldn't have really been worth deploying.