Its unwieldy and nonsensical. When you issue a waypoint and turn it into a rally point, ships should proceed to move to it and NOT move out of that square. I dont want them to engage targets and move off of it, i want them to Rally there for incomming missile ordnance/received fighters or to launch missiles from. Also, the Defend command needs its response range halved, the or even the same leash that that the escort command has. Fix a point in the center of your waypoint that counts as a "ship" and have the assigned task force defend that ship with the escort command...i dont need them to defend half the map but only maybe a 3-5 square radius around that point.
Its the most frustrating system in starsector by far and needs a complete overhaul.