fighter bug?

[Dogboy]

I'm running SEV v 1.71 with latest Balance Mod.
In battles against the A.I., my fighters usually fly forward to attack the enemy, but recently, they flew *away* from the enemy, leaving my carrier vulnerable to attack. Wave after wave moving away from the enemy. I thought perhaps I had set orders wrong (giving the carrier the "fighter attack" order, and the fighters the "optimal range" order). But then, an A.I. carrier attacked me, and the same thing happened. His carrier flew straight into my planetary defenses, where it was destroyed. Then, as soon as the carrier was dead, the fighters turned around and attacked the planet. Any idea what is going wrong?

Can this bug be fixed by altering the order given to the fighters?? Can it be corrected for the A.I.?

In more experienced players' experience, is this sort of bug the norm?? This bug would be really frustrating to uncover after weeks in a multi-player game for the guy who built his strategy around a fighter strategy. Really, a game ender.

Thanks for any thoughts, advice, perspective!