[Alneyan]

There is another problem with satellites: even if you put Combat Sensors (and you have to), they will become less and less able to hit the enemy ships as technology is more and more available. In fact, a ship with ECM III, Stealth Armor III and Scattering Armor III has a -90% chance to be hit, and -130% if you take into account ship and fleet training up to 20%.

On the other hand, Satellites cannot be trained unless you are lucky enough to have a planet sitting on the wormhole or unless you have system wide fleet training facilities. So it means they only have Combat Sensors III to increase their chances to hit, so in the end they have a mere 35% chance to hit at point blank. Once the enemy ship is at range 4 or farther, this chance is only of 1%, unless you happen to have the Talisman. The enemy ship will still have a good chance of hitting you though, as if your ships only have ECM III, the enemy ship will have a 99% chance to hit you at range 4. (Satellites do not have any in-built bonus to defence, unlike drones or fighters)