Yeah, i got that one when it came out on Steam.
I found it quite fun even though you do need a lot of try and error to figure out some of the workings of shields, armour and weapon stats.
Hmm, general tips:
Dont let your fighters just attack, unless your going for a mostly fighter based armada.
Have them escort your cruisers in a fairly wide radius, so that they protect you against enemies and shoot other capitals engaging your ships.
Frigates die a lot in direct combat with cruisers, unless you set their weapon ranges so that they "dance" out of range.
That means they do not a lot of damage, so I build them cheap and in greater numbers, with the right cooperative orders they deal quite a bit of damage before exploding.
Cruisers are your main weapon in all missions which allow them. There are different strategies, from the long range "all Missiles, no Engines" Spam to formations with Cruisers with heavy shield/Armour and point defences + repair in front to soak damage until you are close enough to kill the enemy with the weapons only cruisers flying behind.
Have fun!
