[Taqwus]

Plasma missile satellites appeal to me -- PMs are fast, do decent damage, and have long range, while incoming missiles can't even target satellites let alone hurt them.

Of course, they don't hit fighters and can be beaten by PD, so you can't use them as the ONLY defense, but they're handy.

FWIW, 'tho, most of the satellites I've built are recon satellites -- sensors, long-range scanner, and cloak. Sprinkle throughout your own and adjacent systems, distributed to get good scanner coverage and some redundancy (since a clueful opponent with a scanner may notice and target recon satellites, and I don't recall being able to fit a scanner jammer on the satellite).

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-- The thing that goes bump in the night