Note: I just bought in to play the game yesterday - couldn't wait no more!



During combat do fleets naturally target the largest ships before the smaller ships?

I've noticed that my "bigger" Ships usually lead the pack and the smaller ones follow.



So could I design a Tank for my fleet and then have a bunch of smaller attack ships follow behind?

Well, there are many schools of thought and quite a few ascribing to the Zerg "Glass Cannon" route. Tons of Destroyers with no armor but very powerful weapons.



I think I've noticed ships of the same class engaging each other by priority. This is not official, but I THINK that's what I see - could be wrong.



Generally, when I have enough tech researched, I have one Dreadnaught with about 4 Battleships and whatever else will fill up the remaining command slots. This typically works quite well for me against most engagements - though tech research is far more critical in your ability to survive/dominate battles rather than hulls.

Pharro wrote:
During combat do fleets naturally target the largest ships before the smaller ships?

No, not in my experience. Frequently I see corvettes die before battleships. As far as I can tell, each fleet tries to spread their firepower across all enemy ships.