I get tired of my reinforcing ships being ambushed on the way to the front. I recently discovered a new tactic to give them a better chance of getting there alive. It works against most races and will even work, probably once, against a human.
I bring a minelayer with me and drop a few mines at the end of my move if there is a danger of being attacked. If they get jumped then the mines help even the odds, as the AI rarely brings minesweepers into combat.
It also produces some great suprised looks on your opponents face when the tactical combat starts and his ships have damage! Now against him I get a shot at his minesweepers too.
Sure it wastes a few resources but the look of suprise was worth ten times the amount of resources
