Equalizer Well, I also dropped the ion cannons further into the ship, leveled out the front guns and shields, removed some of the side thrusters so they could be utilized as weapons instead, as well as adding more engines to the center back, which I also extended.
You can continue reading if you would like to hear me explain why I made the changes.
Bringing the guns forward gave them all better attack arc's and I made sure to not block those arcs with armor. I hate it when a gun fires, and it hits my armor instead of the enemy, its a wasted shot and wasted energy, so I pay close attention to the firing arcs of the weapons. So, by dropping the Ion cannons further into the ship, I could also drop the armor protecting it back, giving a better firing arc to the two side cannons. Overall, I think the increase in damage to the enemy is better than trying to protect the guns with restrictive armor.
The addition of passages inside also speeds up the transfer of energy and ammo. Overall, I think it works very well.