[rhraziel]

How do you take down enemy fighters when you have wave after wave warping in?

I obviously like to take out bombs and bombers first, but also, if I find myself in a bind, I will order all ships to attack my target (given they don't need to be disabling capital ships or something). It seems to me to be the fastest method for taking down enemy fighters as quickly as possible.

Also, does that command hold until you tell them otherwise (even after switching targets). Or do they just follow that order until your target is killed?

[Lester]

C-x-1 gives AI the ai-chase order, so yeah, they only attack the target you were targeting at the time the order was given.

[Damage]

One good idea is to keep an eye out for the enemy's warp-in point.  Subsequent wings of fighters and bombers have the same warp-in point as the previous wing, so if you can station yourself or a wingman in that general area, you'll have a better opportunity to start hitting them when they warp in, and be able to smack them all the way to their target.

If things have really degenerated to the point where you and your wingmen are just fighting for your lives, try just ordering an all out attack (C-3-9) and everybody will just start shooting at anything.  A full-on furball is rarely the best defense, but the enemy's attack will be at least as confused as your own defense.

[IronBeer]

One good idea is to keep an eye out for the enemy's warp-in point.  Subsequent wings of fighters and bombers have the same warp-in point as the previous wing...

Not always. More often than not, new wings are set to arrive a certain distance from a given ship.

[Damage]

IronBeer--  you're right, I had forgotten that little item in Fred.  Though an installation isn't likely to be going anywhere, and a convoy or destroyer will be moving in a predictable pattern.  The idea is to station yourself in the general vicinity of that anticipated warp point to minimize that high-speed dash and make the intercept.

[Scotty]

Near Ship doesn't specify a direction, and it will randomize with each wave.

[General Battuta]

IronBeer--  you're right, I had forgotten that little item in Fred.  Though an installation isn't likely to be going anywhere, and a convoy or destroyer will be moving in a predictable pattern.  The idea is to station yourself in the general vicinity of that anticipated warp point to minimize that high-speed dash and make the intercept.

Like Scotty said, the direction is randomized. It's (more or less, iirc) a random point on a sphere centered around the target.

[Mongoose]

There are missions that do use fixed warp-in points, though.  It was always fun in FS1's "A Failure to Communicate" to sit right by the Shivan bombers' entry point and obliterate them before their warp animations disappeared.