i am sure others out there have some ideas in this area. i put this in an other lead but don't remember which lead. so here i go with this one so i can keep trake of it.
but i think we should have a new auto command could patrol or whatever you wish to call it.
right now you can explore or explore and attack but that usually puts your ships way outside your borders
the patrol command would keep the fleet inside of your borders and attack any target ships that are inside your borders
that way you can keep some ships inside your borders.