Those are some great ideas on the fighters and bombers. I don't like the idea of slowing down the drones though - I feel they need some speed to jump in front of those incoming missiles
Another way to balance bolter drones vs fighters and bombers, would be to give drones a max range they can travel away from their carrier. That would make them useful for close defense and close-range targeted attack, but still require fighters and bombers to take out capital ships farther away (300 range?)
Another option to to not allow you to target a specific ship with bolter drones - only fighters and bombers could be pointed to a target. That would essentially accomplish the same thing - The drones would stay close to your ship for defense while an enemy capital ship is in the sector, then fly out to kill enemy fighters/drones when the last capital ship is dead (which is how they act currently if you don't direct them to a target.)
DS