I have only had the game for a couple of days and one aspect that is frustrating me is the roll of the different ship classes. I have experimented with mixtures of different ships in fleets but currently I now only build direct combat capital ships to send in to battles. They last a long time and can usually be withdrawn to be repaired while all the cruisers and frigates are destroyed.

When I built special ships such as the robot cruiser to repair the fleet, these ships are destroyed first so are of no real use - just an expense that can't be recouped.

I'm sure I'm missing something regarding frigates and cruisers - possibly in the way I use them. Are ships like robot cruisers and siege frigates only ever moved into systems once the battle is won? And are LRM ships best used mid way through the battle once the grunts have established a landing zone? What sort of ships do you invest in? And how do you deploy them?

And when you do get into battle, do you focus on destroying the enemy grunt ships or on the capital ships?