It's easy enough to use no hardpoint ships like strikecruisers or battledragons because ship tenders can keep them alive forever. But how does everyone use paper ships like any of the New Republic additions (BACs, Nebula, etc.) that die instantly? I've found that the AI ignores tanky ships like MC80bs and MC90s, and will just fly past them to go after paper ships. Similarly, the AI will ignore your ISDs and go after your crimson VSDs. It's so prevalent that I've found that pretty much all of the paper ships to be completely useless, because they'd die if a fly landed on them and the AI just guns right for them. There doesn't seem to be any way to force the AI to go after your fleet tanks to make utilizing the paper ships possible at all.