Ya, that would be odd; reasearch to lvl 9 stuff, then scrap all 18+ labs without any penalty, and STILL be able to do/build all you reseached?  Being able to build Crusers with just one frigate factory and Super Weapons to your hearts content?  Add to that nobody would need to protect their labs much any more; put them on the front lines even.

Ships go after what they are best at shooting down; if you focus fire (and I do quite a bit), "Sheild Migration" reduces the damage that single ship takes by quite a bit (not to mention, you can have all your repair ships and shield restoring ships concentrate on the targeted ship).  Microing your ships "can" help a lot in this game, but is not required (thank goodness).

Really? I have the problem of my fleets routinely all engaging the same target. It really pisses me off, TBH. I can't find a way to surpress that behavior.

This has been discussed before.  Just imagine the conversation on the Deck of a TEC Novalith.

"Cap'in sir, we've just lost one of our military labs!"

"Oh blasted, now we have to pretend to forget that we know how to push the big red fire button."

I don't have a problem with the way the game is now; it's just part of the game and a strategic consideration that deepens the strategy aspect of the game.  It might be argued that the labs produce parts and ammo for ships and facilities, so when one gets destroyed you no longer have the stuff it makes.

Superweapon firing actually depends on the lab count. That's the only thing

The labs just don't research the Techs, they makes all the special parts/devises that make them work too.  We already know how to make computers, but if someone destroyes the computer labs around here, there's no parts comming to make more till you build another lab (or import from China )