Found a disturbing money sinking bug. See subject. I know the mercs tactics resets, each time I hire a new one, however, it also resets from Shoot Capital Ships, to Shoot Everything, inbetween saves.. err game restarts.

Also, can someone please suggest a use for targeting a turret?

My Tactics like, like...
turrets 1-3, capital ships only. Ions, Shieldbreakers, Antimatter, and Leeches
turrets 4-6, anything. Pulse
turret, top center, capital ship only. Particle, Mining, loot laser
turret, aft broadsides, Fighters only. Swarmer

I only use tactics temporarily, for example to make Militia Blockade runs and make sure I don't blow up any capital Militia ships by mistake (setting all the tactics to 'fighters only'), or in a certain mission when you need to attack a base which has turrets < if you don't tell your turrets to attack the base's turrets they will just shoot at the base while it continues to pommel you with beams.

From what I read, later on it becomes almost useless to use tactics. If only the developers would have given the option to give priorities instead of '[TARGET] only' tactics, it would be much more useful.

Turret micromanagement is very effective actually. It lets you concentrate a lot of firepower at one enemy so that one goes down fast.
For a while I paused and reconfigured my turrets constantly to test how good it is and yes it works very well. The downside is that you have to pause and change your turrets very often in a battle.
A good middle ground I found was pulse turrets on targeted and beams to fighters and when there are no fighters left have beams on targeted or free. I lock on one enemy at a time during the battle and stay on it until I get surrounded and have to reposition or it is gone so I can move unto next one.
Pulse for capital shield damage, range and particle lasers for fighters, range, instahit and hull damage.

Oh and don't forget one Leech Rocket turret on manual for the bigger enemy ships. It's immensely useful. Much more than Shieldbuster turret because it impairs speed and shield regeneration (Which usually are a bigger problem than shield "hitpoints".) .

Turrets against fighters are best poitioned so they can shoot around the top. Fighters usually stay above the horizon and circle you there and occasionally go below you.