Simultanous movement question!

[Testosteronos]

Hi all!
I'm currently playing playing an e-mail simultanous game with two friends of mine. So far there's been no war, but now I plan to conquer a neutral race which started near me. I've done simulator tests and as long as I don't put my ships in a fleet all is well( I capture their planet and the colony ship(!), destroy their ships without losing a single one ). As soon as I create a fleet my ships destroy the colony ship(I've tried many many strategies, get losses....all in all : it sucks!!!
Now my question: When I use the shift-key to order multiple ships to the same location, will they be going one by one or unified(like a fleet)?
Thanks