With 4.85, Freelancer's Discovery Mod does not support single player campaigns (though in 4.84 it was enough trouble with instakills during dragnet dodging.
NPC AI allows them to, annoyingly, use 1 bot or bat when needed. Annoying because in the face of danger they can pop a single shield batt allowing them to regen their shield just enough to take the hit of what would otherwise be an instant kill. While players have to spend whatever amount it takes to refill either bar back to full.
My suggestion is to either play the Freelancer SP Campaign without the mod at all, just a complete vanilla installation.
While keeping a separate installation with 4.855 activated for online play.