I was fighting 12-ish Conquest bounty fleets (300k-400k range) with the following deployment before I had my colonies up and running:
Paragon (2 Dmod, 1 story mod) + Legion XIV (3 dmod, 3 story mod) + Aurora (3 story mod) + 2 Herons (170 DP total)
I piloted the SO Aurora myself, and use it to grab one capture point at the beginning (letting me deploy 180 DP worst case), and then sweep frigates/destroyers - they often conveniently send 1 or 2 to the capture point for me to swat immediately. Once smaller ships have all been eliminated (oddly easier with more capitals), I move on to flanking the enemy capitals, forcing them to endure fire from two sides (and usually turn their engines towards my allies). If they won't turn, I'll make them turn with plasma burn + shield bumper cars. Back off as needed to let flux drop.
I issue an order to each Heron to escort a different capital, which generally means they fly behind and plink at flanking frigates with a hypervelocity driver or Heavy Autocannon. Their fighters are able to catch most frigates, although I'm usually configured with a generic fighter loadout: Broadsword/Longbow/Dagger, but do switch it up if I need different capabilities (Piranas are good against stationary stations for example). You could probably optimize them better against small fast targets.
But yeah, I admit I have not flown a Paragon yet this edition despite having two in my end game fleet. Paragons are fine in AI hands, simply because they're so slow, which makes it hard for them to over commit. I use the fastest biggest ship (Odyssey eventually) I have, and use speed and size to crush frigates/destroyers quickly at the start of the fight. As a human, I have a better idea of whether I can catch a given frigate and when I'm getting to far from the main fight, and can be aggressive enough with ship systems/missiles to do so. Fighters are also good for driving off/killing flankers via command point orders to carriers. On the other hand, I was often driving the Aurora well past peak time in those kinds of fights, so it was a bit harder on the supplies than one might expect. On the other hand, an SO Aurora has capital flux stats (~2600 flux dissipation), capital DPS (1500 DPS from heavy blasters alone), with 24 sabots, and faster than frigate speed mobility system. With an Odyssey that is less of an issue (although far less maneuverable and you need to watch your position and attitude much more - I've had to recover my Odyssey more of then my Aurora because of mistakes). I consider the combat tier 5 systems skill a must have for that kind of play style - 3 faster recovering plasma burn charges or faster recovery of plasma jets means more kills in less time.