The AI in CF is much more powerful than that of vanilla FL. NPCs use bots/bats and their shields recharge. There's no way to disable it and you're just gonna have to get used to it. Sorry. Welcome to Crossfire!
No, they don't. It's just that Xeno starfliers are a real pain in the ass since they don't have a lot of shields and only need one bat to recharge. If you go fight Outcasts in Corridor, they're gonna be much tougher, but won't recharge as much.