Well, unless I am forgotten something but the dreadlords can't produce lots of ships. So in one to one they are very dangerous. But in DL, a ship can target only one ship per combat round, even if he do lots of overkill. So you should try to put lots of small fighters in a fleet. And try also to conlonize mor planets to research tech faster.

 

Yes they will eventually get hold of logistics technology through invasion because they don't actually research I beleive. You're best bet is to hold the fort and wait for the allies, the altarians defeated them for me (well finished them off).

What version are you using? Since V1.2, there is no longer a first strike.

Here are two trick for fighting the Dreadlords:

1) Assassinate their transports. Build cargo-hull sensor ships that have a few engines and lots of sensors. These will let you observe enemy ships and run away when in danger. Also, build cargo-hull assassin ships that have one small weapon, lots of engines, and some life support. These can take out undefended targets, like their troop transports.

2) To fight the Dreadlords toe-to-toe, use big fleets of tiny ships. The tiny ships should have lots of attack, and zero defense. In combat, each ship can shoot at only one enemy every round, so when your fleet engages a Dreadlord ship, the Dreadlord will obliterate one of your tinies, but you should have enough firepower to take him out in the same round.