Fighters are tractor beams

[LGM]

Another counter would be to change weapons to more effective weapons like Null Space and hope that your better speed allows you to fire first.

Personally, I think that Long Range weapons like Wave Motion guns are for non Talisman players to be able to hit better at long range (-30 modifier). I tend to use Null Space with the Talisman and that matches up nicely with the max range of Point Defenses (both range 5). If you do not have the Talisman, you want to get as close as you can to increase to hit chances.

Asside from using missles early on, I have found it very difficult in SEIV to use a Range advantage to stay out of the enemies range effectively. I figure that Range Advantage helps me get the first shot, which is big in SEIV. However, a Range advantage can be bad if weapons fire slow and miss a lot at long range.