It seems to me that the only time you should order lancemates to attack anything is when you have to protect something. Then you order them to attack enemies to keep them busy and not allow them to attack what you're trying to protect. Otherwise they seem kinda dumb and its better to just let them attack enemies on their own. They don't seem to make best use of their weapons...ie a mech with primarily LRM armament will close in and try and use the few lasers it has instead of standing off and using the LRMs to good effect.

I agree, I'm not saying I'd rather be without them, I'm just trying to figure out the best way to use them.