Modules:
I recently played a game using the Alturian tech tree. It has a tech that unlocks a very small module which is supposed to +20% t both the ship and whole fleet defense. I think there was a similar offensive one, but I didn't last long enough to find out 
My question; does anyone know if the fleet module bonuses stack? Or their large counterparts for that matter?
I used one ship design that had the +20% unit on every ship, and created fleets of just that design, but I couldn't tell if it was helping or not. I chose to use that module because I was almost constantly at war with two races, one only using mass drivers and the other only using beam weapons, so it seemed better to have balanced armor and force fields with the +20%, rather than use a different defensive design for each race.
Several battles had the 4 of the 5 ships in my fleet get hurt or wiped out, while one ship just never got touched at all, even if it ended up as just that 1 ship versus 2 or 3 remaining enemy ships.
Does that mean the bonus went to just that one ship?
Alliances:
The game has me pulling my hair out over these. Last game I was allied with three other races. A fourth race declared war on me, and none of the three allies did a thing. With two of them I couldn't even select the race I was at war with using the attack option on their side of the trade screen. None of them were allied with the race attacking me.
Then a fifth race declared war on one of the races I was (somehow still) allied with, and I get the You're Honor Bound to help popup box. Huh? After I clicked no, since I was already pissed, I found that our alliance was broken with no word from that race.
How does all this work? Why don't I even get the option to ask an ally to attack a race I'm at war with? I've had non-allied friendly races decide to help me out in a war, but I've Never had a race I was allied with declare on a race attacking me.
I was playing Ultimate 2.02, sandbox, and tough that last game.