Compendium for designs?

[towerbooks3192]

Hi! I want to know if there is a compendium for base and ship designs and suggestions from everyone here? I was hoping the more experienced players have a compendium and tutorial on the parts and design suggestions for lets say early stages to later stages of the game.

[CyclopsSlayer]

Actually not a bad idea. Probably more for the wiki than here.

I build my designs off of fairly basic 'Rules'.
(percentages are approximates)

-All designs intended to group together will share similar fuel ranges (typically 10-15 sectors or more)
-Carriers - maxsize, 50% Bays, 15% Shields, 15% Engines/Fuel/Maneuver, misc (HyperDeny, ECM/ECCM, Armor, Repair, collector)
-Capital - maxsize, 30% Weapons, 10% Bays, 20% Shields, 20% Engines/Fuel/Maneuver, misc (HyperDeny, ECM/ECCM, Armor, Repair, collector)
-Cruiser - maxsize, 30% Weapons(mostly bombardment), 10% Bays, 20% Shields, 20% Engines/Fuel/Maneuver, misc (HyperDeny, ECM/ECCM, Armor, Repair, collector)
-Destroyer - max 300sz, 30% Weapons, 20% Shields, 20% Engines/Fuel/Maneuver, misc (ECM/ECCM, Armor, Repair, collector, Habs for 300+ defensive boarding strength)
-Frigate - max 250sz, 30% Weapons, 20% Shields, 20% Engines/Fuel/Maneuver, misc (ECM/ECCM, Armor, Repair, collector, Habs for 300+ defensive boarding strength)
-Escort - max 200sz, 30% Weapons, 20% Shields, 20% Engines/Fuel/Maneuver, misc (ECM/ECCM, Armor, Repair, collector, Habs for 300+ defensive boarding strength)
-Troop Transports(early) - max 230, 5x Troop bays, 15x Thrusters, 5 Fuel cell, shields and misc to fit ( ECM, Armor, Repair, collector)
-Troop Transports(late) - 600-800sz, 40% Troop Bays, 25% Shields, 25% Engines/Fuel/Maneuver, misc ( ECM, Armor, Repair, collector)
-Sm/Md/Lg Freighter - standard + Warp + reactor for full speed + shield + Habs for 300+ defensive boarding strength
-Exploration(pre-warp) Engines to 14 (spd 46), +1 Fuel cell
-Exploration(Warp) - as above + Warp, ECM, Repair, 2x Shield, Collectors, Long Range sensor, Habs for 300+ defensive boarding strength

-Star Base "Outpost" - 10x Fighter Bays, 20x Shields, 40x Armor, Comm/Recc/Med bays, misc to fit ( ECM, Armor, Repair, collector) (set to auto build when colony placed)
-Small SpacePort "Frontline Yard" - max size for open space, no less than 12 Yards, docking bays and plants to match, 10+ Shields/Fighters/Guns each
-Medium SpacePort - 20x Fighter bays, 20x Shields, 20x Torpedoes, 80x armor, 20 each WPN/ENG/HIGH Labs, otherwise standard Medium minus base weapons.
-Large SpacePort - 40x Fighter bays, 40x Shields, 30x Torpedoes, 120x armor, 20 each WPN/ENG/HIGH Labs, otherwise standard Large minus base weapons.
-Defense Base - 30x Fighter bays, 30x Shields, 30x Torpedoes, 120x armor, otherwise standard Defense minus base weapons.
-Mine/Gas Stations - 5x Shields, 3x Torpedoes, 3x Mining units, Habs for 300+ defensive boarding strength

Once Cruisers and Capitals are available all Destroyers and smaller are automated for escort duties.
Typical Strike Fleets are 3 Caps and 2 Carriers.
Typical Assault Fleets are 10 Caps, 5 Carriers, 3-5 Cruiser for bombardment
Typically Transports are run separately from fleets allowing Troops to restock while Warships continue to assulat bases/ports. Single Transports for Independents early and small colonies later, 3 Transports Crush most home worlds.

[DeadlyShoe]

Typically I focus on efficiency for designs. This has a number of considerations, but the primary one is available power generation and fuel.

It's generally a good idea to maximize your hyperdrive speed. Taking this as a given, every (military) ship design requires about 2 reactors unless you are using Callista-Dal/Vortex hyperdrives. To maximize your efficiency, you need to have something to do with all this power at the combat level. This means essentially that either your (Sprint Energy + Weapons) or (Cruise Energy + Weapons) should always be near your maximum power generation. Then fill the ship out with appropriate shields.

the specifics of how this works out varies a LOT depending on the techs and weapons involved. Some weapons like Railguns are very energy efficient, while other weapons (say Ion Cannons) are energy hogs.

[towerbooks3192]

Those are some pretty good rules. I will try to follow that. I kind of wanted to see what other peoples designs are as well from something efficient and gamey to some unique ones. I also kind of wanted to make some unique designs because I remember accidentally researching area weapons thinking it was bombardment weapons and equipping my cruisers with a lot of them caused me to decimate my other ships along with all the enemy ships and thus inspired me to build something like lets say a suicide build or a sort of maginot line filled with area weapons that would zap any opponents that would try to pass.

Other than that, I just started a game and all went well until the units I though that were strong enough were decimated. Turns out long range lasers aren't that good.

Edit: The other thing that is really daunting me other than considering energy and my current ship size limit, I don't know what are some of the basic parts like how many thrusters should I add or something like that. It is really good to see some of the ways people design their ships and what guidelines they sort of follow and how they adjust with available tech.

[CyclopsSlayer]

ORIGINAL: DeadlyShoe

Typically I focus on efficiency for designs. This has a number of considerations, but the primary one is available power generation and fuel.

It's generally a good idea to maximize your hyperdrive speed. Taking this as a given, every (military) ship design requires about 2 reactors unless you are using Callista-Dal/Vortex hyperdrives. To maximize your efficiency, you need to have something to do with all this power at the combat level. This means essentially that either your (Sprint Energy + Weapons) or (Cruise Energy + Weapons) should always be near your maximum power generation. Then fill the ship out with appropriate shields.

the specifics of how this works out varies a LOT depending on the techs and weapons involved. Some weapons like Railguns are very energy efficient, while other weapons (say Ion Cannons) are energy hogs.

I generally ignore energy concerns as it is fairly easy to get to Fusion/Quantum reactors where a single reactor can achieve max or near max speeds.
Additionally, your best speeds come from Equinox drives, slow to jump out true, but max speed is nearly endgame levels.

Here is a link to a Google Doc comparing weapons; DW Weapon Comparison
It only compares the final tech weapons and doesn't consider Energy costs.

[ReadeB]

My designs are based on what techs are available and whether I need to add new components right away.

This ends up being a progression of designs for different missions vs a few set optimized designs.