How do I counter the engineers in the engineer mission in the Cybran campaign

How do I counter the engineers in the engineer mission in the Cybran campaign

In the Cybran campaign of Supreme Commander 2, there's a mission with
hostile engineers. (I don't think it's a spoiler, since it's obvious
up-front what's going to happen, but to be on the safe side I won't say
which mission.) I've noticed that the unit AI makes it hard to deal with
them: the engis' capture beam outranges the tanks even with the range
upgrade, and the tanks won't close to retaliate. Missile tanks and arty
are pretty useless until the engis are stationary. Aircraft would be
useful, but there are too many AA towers to consider using them at the
start. Your own engis won't try to capture or reclaim the enemy ones
without specific orders.
It deeply irritates me that this situation is only hard to deal with
because of shortcomings in the unit AI. Is there a better way to start the
mission than pretending you're playing StarCraft and ordering your tanks
to attack each engi as it arrives?