JPS-205 I saw your ship, it definitely has a form of potential. I see you've gone for more of a design that resembles a hammerhead. That being said, this ship is seriously flawed. I've taken a peek at it in-game, and every single component is interconnected.
As pointed out by @Northerner and @Alpha, as well as the fundamentals of the ship building guide, crew for some reason in this game love to travel from one side of a ship to the other if everything is connected. This makes guns, shields, virtually every component significantly handicapped as a result. Ammo, power, and crew won't get to where they need to be quickly and efficiently. This is where compartments/modules come in.
If an entire ship is built modular, its efficiency skyrockets. Crew are where they need to be, weapons are reloaded in sufficient time, and even if over half of your ship is missing, it will still fight with extreme aggression. Here's an example I spent a few hours cooking up:
This is kind of what is expected from a GiF ship. Everything is compartmentalized. Here is a list of improvements that your ship lacks right now; Better shielding as a result from reactors being directly linked to them, cannons can sustain firepower due to the same principle being applied to ammo factories, same is true for missiles, compartments prevent crew from going through the entire ship, engines are central to the design which keeps them protected and helps with maneuverability, and spare space isn't needlessly filled with armor and corridors.
One more thing. This is GiF, if you're building a ship for a specific tier, don't be afraid to use as much of the budget as possible to fully optimize the design. It's just a bonus if you stumble across an effective design that's cheaper and better. Hope this info helps you to some extent! 😛
Northerner If you intend to test this design btw, here are the specs:
Name: Iron Star Mk IV
Tier: 9
Cost: $2,474,200
