Orders/formations: fleets, task forces, and ship

[Nocturnal]

Could some one give me suggestions for how to make a ship function as a point-defense escort? What are the important differences between strategies in Space Empires IV & V?
I know in IV at least I have to provide the ship with some weapons that can fire on ships, or else it'll flee to the corner. Then I make a custom strategy with the type targeting order: "drones, fighters, seekers, satellites, ships..." but point defense always automatically fires on the first target that comes into range, regardless of what I want it to do, right?
Anything else I should do? I've tried targeting priorities like "nearest, fastest, smallest..." but I'm not really sure of it. Ideally I'd want my ship to stay near the front of the formation, or actively go towards wherever missiles and fighters are coming from and take them down before they reach my capital ships.
What would I do differently in SEV? I know I can set these ships as escorts in the task force for one thing.