I'm just starting to understand the game well enough to play against "bright" enemies without fear of losing.
I just wanted to post about an experience I had in game recently.
The Thorans were sending out swarms of fighters, with stingers and no defences at all. (I have yet to see a civ use a different tactic, but then I haven't exactly played on "kill me now" difficulty yet either)
At first, I tried to imitate this tactic, and I found that I was defeated in nearly every battle. They always had just enough firepower to destroy my swarms.
So, I tried a new tactic, researched large hulls as quickly as I could, and started producing them with harpoons and point defence.
(On a side note, if you ever want to use a ship for more than defending its own star, put enough engines on it to make it scoot, else it will always be a day late to the battle)
Neways, soon my first "Harpoon Class" ship was built.
Before the second was built, that single ship had destroyed every Thoran ship in my territory, and was searching for targets in Thoran space.
I ended up building 5 of them, although I really think 2 would have been enough to finish the job. I didn't even need to escort my transports, there simply was no resistance.
Eventualy they started building frigates and even a few cruisers, again no match for the "Harppon Class" ships I built.
The moral of the story is, make your ships big enough to actualy hold some defences!
Eh.. ya... hope someone cares