ORIGINAL: hewwo
Actually, I haven't thought of that yet. Would make things a bit easier to manage. On the other hand, I love building mixed fleets. If not because they better then from a role playing pov!
I find them WAY better. I've been playing around with a sniper frigate & tank destroyer combo to some great success. I'll put only one shield on the frigates, then pack on engines/thrusters and missiles, set them to standoff so they kite enemy ships out of their weapon range, all the while hurling volleys of missiles their way. The Destroyers I set to point blank and load them with a TONN of shields, and 2 or 3 torpedoes.
Works like a charm, the enemy focuses on the heavily defended destroyers while the lite frigates zoom around the outside raining death and destruction on everything.
Once I get cruisers I might even just use one cruiser, packed with shields and a few area weapons as the tank.
You could also throw in a dedicated fighter carrier who will sit off to the side while the swarm adds to the destruction.