this Strategy must be broke

[Fyron]

Adding components via retrofit is more expensive than building them in the first place.

You can just group the ships together at a way point behind the front lines, in a safe system. Then send the fleets to the front lines. This will prevent individual ships from being picked off one by one.

[narf poit chez BOOM]

If you have warp-point openers, find a huge planet, fill it up with cargo facilities, then fill it up with WepP, add some bases and make a WarpP to the front. You now have a secure pipeline. Never tried it, but it should work.