[Siirenias]

I, indeed, do use aegis ships, but I call them screening elements.

Originally, I made them as missile defense ships, set in the escort role in fleets (I use multiple light task forces, allowing me to designate escorts to each free-maneuvering cruiser+ tonnage warship). While I designed them in the sims against my own missile-heavy craft, enemy designs are disappointingly beam-heavy, making combat almost boring, especially for my destroyer and light cruiser escorts.

However, I stared getting skirmishes with one of the neutral empires that I picket, and they used carriers. Those fighters are pretty mean, even if they are lower tech. Chewed up my outdated pickets in the system, and nearly got me again when I replaced them with modern, more heavily armed destroyers.

Since then, I've given anti-fighter roles more thought. A lot more thought, in fact. What I learned from all that is that bomblet missiles are a great fighter defense, and that point defense blasters don't do a whole lot. A mix of point defense beams and flak cannons give you decent kill rates at the shorter ranges, especially because higher level flak cannons and bomblet missiles will give you one hit kills, while the beams are harder to dodge.

As for tactics, leading the fighters extends your anti-fighter missile envelope, and keeps fighters from circling you at shorter ranges. If you can manage to get the fighters to ignore escorts, those escorts can end up in the thick of it, and thus have much better targeting solutions. I say avoid munitions-based anti-ship direct fire guns, if you can. You'll eat up your ordinance on fighters, and have less to deal with the carriers when they come. Anti-proton beams and meson blasters are thus preferable in the face of fighter-laden enemies.

My latest and greatest anti-fighter ship is a light cruiser, packed to the gills with point defense and engines, but also possesses an anti-proton beam and a crystalline missile, thus giving it some defensive measures in a singlet or pair, and adds to the punch of a task force. Some of my fleet-only screening elements possess a much heavier beam that doesn't target fighters, since they come in pairs anyway, and have their charge's point defense as well.

In conclusion, escort vessels, point defense, and plenty of armor and shields are the best defense against fighter swarms. I would not suggest countering with a fighter swarm of your own, as this bogs down a computer's resources faster than anything, and often times, the enemy fighters ignore yours, unless during a station assault (at which point I might add that PD satellites add to a fixed fort's defenses).

PS: I earned most of my smaller weapons through treaties with other empires, but I think a level in smaller weapons allows you to evolve smaller weapons along with the tech levels for their greater cousins.