If you want to try it out, here's one strategy that's working quite well for me so far on the first Dreadlord level. I researched up the sensors tree to whichever one lets you build the Eyes of the Universe, Sensors IV I think, then built the Eyes. I did a bunch of engine research too, up into the warp drive techs, and then built a few ships with cargo hulls, one laser, a few life support modules, and all the engines they can hold. They can see basically everything and are fast enough to pick off Dreadlord transports and run away from everything else, so it doesn't matter that I can't kill their ships, because they have nothing to attack and they can't take my planets. It only took 2-3 of these ships to have a defense that the Dreadlords just can't do anything about, though I'm not sure it would work well with the up the AI to help your allies strategy, because the enemy might start escorting transports then.
