Bring the translocators into the fight after your main fleet has engaged.
The value of the translocator is that it can temporarily create a buffer around your main fleet against ships that are a real threat to it. Needing to send in bombers to take down a force field? Pop in your translocators to harass the fighters. Worried about the overall DPS of the fleet you're going up against? smash the fleets together, then let the translocators sort out warping things around under the cover of alternative targets. It doesn't kill anything outright, but it does provide a decrease to the incoming DPS rate, which might give you the few extra seconds you need to actually get the job done.
It's a micro-oriented ship. If you don't like to micro much, it's not going to ever be useful. If you do, you can find a number of instances where it's handy, though I struggle to think of any where it would be individually necessary. I think that's why it's only unlockable as an experimental fab, because a mark I-IV version wouldn't balance right with the rest of the fleet.