I use the fighters when I get a ship that has decent ones.
The only decent carried fighters in standard EV are mantas and lightnings.
I keep the fighters launched, and send them to attack when something shows up that they can kill such as a clipper, argosy or another fighter.
Unfortunately, by the time you have a ship with fighters, you are fighting large ships that fighters are useless against. I frequently choose to ignore small pests when fighting large ships, because the effort of targeting and pressing F is too much.
Some plugs provide a Rapier bay. The rapier is very good against large ships-- tough enough to survive multiple passes, and deals massive damage.
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