What Are Your Fleet Designs?

[NPC]

Thanks for all the suggestions, folks! Keep 'em coming.

Does anyone have a particularly creative fleet design? Maybe one that has a specific purpose, or maybe is good for a single use until it's countered by the AI?

Also, it seems that the consesus out there is to have a fleet with a lot of attack ships, some resupply, some repair, some minesweeping ships, and use the non-combat ships for sensors/scanners. So to make these fleets, do you balance your research?

Maybe one of my weaknesses is that I tend to focus on getting a higher tech level in a few technologies instead of getting a lower tech level in multiple technologies.

So I guess my next question is: to create your fleets, what kind of research strategy do you follow?