Out of curiosity, are you playing an industry build? I don't see how it can otherwise work out.
For my first game, completely unskilled and no commission. (EDIT: During 0.8, when bounties and Remnants did not use ECM.)
Next game, same as above, except with skills useful for everyone: Combat Endurance 1, Evasive Maneuvers 1, Helmsmanship 3, Fleet Logistics 3, Coordinated Maneuvers 1, Fighter Doctrine 3, Electronic Warfare 1, and Loadout Design 3.
Combat Endurance 1 for more peak performance for my flagship.
Evasive Maneuvers 1 for faster turning.
Helmsmanship 3 for my flagship to keep zero-flux speed bonus while fighters are engaged.
Fleet Logistics 3 for +15% CR for all.
Coordinated Maneuvers 1 for more speed for my fleet.
Fighter Doctrine 3 to get Converted Hangar hullmod (at 2) and keep fighters somewhat relevant in endgame fights.
Electronic Warfare 1 to defend against enemy ECM.
Loadout Design 3 for more much-needed OP.
More SP unspent because I cannot decide where to put them. More skills than points. Too few SP in the game. Must-take skills eat about half of my SP.
Ships are whatever I recover off the ground, since I cannot buy most ships until endgame (after I build rep with Independents).
P.S. My endgame combat fleet is primarily cruisers (among Dominator, Eagle, Falcon, Heron, and Mora), plus one or two capitals (usually Legion and Paragon), maybe some Drovers, plus Tempest (to enable pursuit-and-autoresolve against any fleet after battle), plus Hyperion and/or Afflictor. The bigger ships that are not normally carriers will often get Converted Hangar. Fighters dominate 0.8 because they force fights and partially counter the AI's cowardice.