I know that Schema intends to eventually implement more advanced options for AI (including LUA scripting) but for now, perhaps it could be possible to use the marker beam to put together basic "fleets" of up to five ships... Simply set your marker beam to a ship's core, then fire the marker beam at the AIs on different ships. Then, they will always attempt to stay in range of your ship for as long as they're active. For planets and stations, this function would be achieved using the Warp Gate Computers rather than Cores. (When better AI functions become available, this could be edited or removed entirely.)