So fighters can actually die now, and do.
Their huge resource costs and build times as well as personnel costs are sort of making the creation of good fighters prohibitive.
My suggestion:
1. make fighters remote controlled. You still need 120 pilots to launch 10 squadrons, but pilots don't head out and don't die (same as other crew atm).
2. make fighters even more vulnerable/easier to hit, or make maneuverability that much more important. maybe even clamp down on the number of points available. basically, have fighters get lost more easily, more often, and in bigger numbers, especially when going up against a fleet that has lots of fast wtracking eaponry
3. reduce fighter build cost and time significantly. Basically, make them consumables that need to be replenished all the time, underlining the need for an assembly plant on ship.
4. On the beta branch, I placed a second assembly block that was smaller than the original one. Build times went up as if only the new block was counted. Either add up all assembly production values, or communicate somewhere in game that the assembly plant must be one contiguous block.