RandomCommander Moral of the story - Do not submit early, even if you are prone to forgetting to submit things. Chances are you are going to test your ship out and realize there are things you could improve.
Alternatively submit rev 7 of a design right when the contest opens. :-P
I haven't found the easy way to setup AI vs AI battles so I don't know how well the AI will handle it, but Maw's 'Octal Maw' rail-gun array is glorious to watch in action. Two crushing alpha-strikes, then sustained random fire at 1.5-2 meteors per second. A bit of a glass cannon though, Easy to loose half the array to concentrated counter-fire if you get too close... (I swear that the guns chain 'splode diagonally at times)
I'm much more of a builder than a painter, But I think it's best to keep base color of Maw black so the other paint pops. (Even if it does make the engines and rail-guns stand out.) I also like the simple design, as I find the more psychedelic paint schemes jarring. Still plenty of room for improvement. For instance, I wanted to give Maw laser eyes instead of laser nostrils but the clear space in front of shields has stumped me so far...
