(Just a quick note as far as AI: it's the same AI for all ships; differences in behavior are due to the tactical situation, loadout, and officer personality or doctrine.)
Generally speaking, no matter what I do, there will be *some* configuration the AI has trouble using. Part of the game is figuring out what works and what doesn't. Of course, this does not mean that the AI shouldn't be improved, and I appreciate you all taking the time to bring issues to my attention.
The AI is... pretty complicated, so unfortunately a description of what happens doesn't get me very far - there could be a million reasons for why the AI does something. I really need to be able to see the behavior in-game for myself to be able to do anything. Ideally, if someone tells me "take this vanilla ship, put these vanilla weapons/hullmods on it, deploy it in the simulator vs a specific opponent, observe undesired behavior X" - then I can take a look and often do something about it. A good recent example of that happening is here.
I see, so some mods can break it's limits... Problem is that some situations is difficult to simulate, and adding modded tech makes it even more difficult. But i guess it's good to know those limits, what AI can handle and what it can't, and setup allies that way. Going to try building a torpedo boat with vanilla stuff, and see what happens. Have some issues with those as well.
Also, SO bulld thing may have something to do with directional/fixed shield, and shield deployment rate, cos i set up 360degree fixed shield, for it's stability, but AI seems to handle directional shileds much better. Especially when surrounded.