I'm sorry,
I keep forgetting that there are sooooo many options within the game that I have to remember that not everyone plays with the same settings. I love to fight my own battles and see how my designs hold up. I'm generally outnumbered and out gunned, but again it is the AI I'm fighting!
As far as fighting the battles Strategically, you need to make sure your strategy is set in the Empire options screen to get the best results. If you set your seeker ships to "max range" and try to keep them in their own fleet. They will launch a overwhelming drone wave.
Separating your fleets will yeild better results too! Keep your carrier group in one fleet and your seekers in another. You'll find that the AI does a better job of running your fleet this way.
I have seen the AI put together mine sweeper fleets, once it gets that tech. I checked my Tessellate download and found that it's the ship set only(no AI), so I'm going to have to find the complete race file and download that.