[Q]

Thank you Kwok for the explanation.

In general I believe that the defense state is seldom beneficial for the AI if he faces a human player, as the human player always will select the weakest points of the defenses to attack. However counter attacks of the AI (even if quite random in its location) may cause problems to the human opponent.

One more thing I read in the scrips (1.05):

" // Our Mine Sweepers should join fleets if they have nothing better to do
if (not orders_given) then
set orders_given := Send_Ship_To_Join_Fleet(ship_id)
endif"

Don't you think that minesweepers should always join fleets with highest priority? A lonely minesweeper is doomed, while an attack fleet without minesweepers is easily stopped by mines.