More or less. Fight a bunch of Unfairs teamed together to get a slightly better idea of the speed of playing online.

If pirates are active, on a large map, hangar defense is also important.  1 on each planet, all fighters. (Takes out enemy siege, too.)

Only viable on large, where you'll face more than 1 raid.

Keep in mind i have not expierienced the Ironclad Online Multiplayer, only a few local LAN games with a friend, so i don't know many of the common strategies.

I know expierienced players don't generally use siege, but i like to throw a couple AI into the mix when I MP, and they do use them in small number, but continuously.

i always rule out scouts for some reason.  (In fact, i hadn't even realized the damage bonuses vs units on any ship until i read it here.)  It definitely sounds like a better way to go, since you could build a decent strike force that you can move around, being cheaper in the long run.  My only complaint is it will take up supply points i desparately need early-game, as i try for a 2nd cap, and therefore must research 1st level fleet increase.

If you're good enough to beat an unfair, then you're ready for online play.  The unfair isn't any more intelligent than the hard, it just cheats more.  So if you add more and more teamed unfair AI's you're learning to beat many very dumb players, rather than one very cunning player (which is what online will be most of the time).  Certainly online players can beat multiple unfairs, but the technique and approach you use is very different to what you do against a player.  I'm far more aggressive against the AI than I would be even against a novice because the AI is more predictable and has some very glaring faults.