Ive had a huge fleet lose to a tiny rebel fleet when i auto resolved, and when i reloaded and did it myself i didnt lose a single one. Never auto-resolve unless you have a 200 to one advantage over them.
That ones simple, just open the Projectiles.XML and find the Proj_Harmonic_Bomb_Slave_I line and change its Scale Factor accordingly to the Firesprays.
Someone found a variable that proves that Auto-Resolve is very against you. It turns down your units strength and effectiveness while it uses bad tactics.