Is there a mod or a setting that make them a little less stupid and a little more productive?  I remember stories of minors taking over the galaxy but really I'm just wishing that they weren't completely worthless. 

As an example, in a recent game one of the majors declared war on a minor i was trading with so I gave the minor enough ships to hold off the major for a couple turns at least.  The minor in it's infinite wisdom left all the ships where they were and the major landed it's transports without firing a shot.