I realize that carriers do this already, but last night I started experimenting with using the offset option to create little mini fleets around my cruisers. 

I was only able to see it in actual battle twice so far.  For the ship I tested, the mini ships were static in the designer, and it looked a little funny to me in actual battle how the minis kept perfect pace and position with the main cruiser.  I put a laser battery on the mini though, and in battle the mini was shooting lasers while the main cruiser was firing missiles.  So that part of the test - seeing if I could get the mini to shoot - was a limited success.

I also tried using the animation options in the designer on the minis, but the way the mini ships just move back and forth seemed a bit awkward - their speed was very fast too.  I am planning on testing it in battle, though, because it may not look as awkward when the main ship is moving, as it will be in actual battle.

I'm trying to get that Star Wars look, where the destroyers are moving around the super star destroyer.

Anyone else played around with this?  Observations and results?