Building Academy

PotatoBoiler

Alpha
Yeah, that too.

PotatoBoiler I wanted to keep the design

This kind of was a faction ship, kind of not. That's why I didn't want to change the design.

I do have a bigger ship though.

Things I already do know:
Not very compartmentalized.
Not enough railgun armor.
CRs in a weird place and there is not enough of them.
Not enough / not well shielded thrusters.

Alpha

PotatoBoiler Alright. Let me give you a ship for practice. Since I haven't got any good ships around your price tier, please allow me to pick one from Galaxy in Flames (Well, anybody can download & use it. So why can't I for educational purposes?)

image https://i.imgur.com/p6rQhBt.png

(Edit: You don't need to beat it with a ship for roleplaying, but slightly better performance could be useful if you want to use it for combat.)

Alpha

PotatoBoiler Oh, I prefer bigger ships, let me take a look.

Alpha

PotatoBoiler

PotatoBoiler I do have a bigger ship though.

Alright, so at first there are the issues you already mentioned. Especially using compartments should become your new priority.

Second, what kind of ship is this, from what I see it tries to be everything at once. Try to create a ship which lets most weapons fire at the same time. Missile modules could be useful on the sides, so you can wreck them with a misssile barrage and railgun blasts at the same time. (Note: Small railguns at the flanks of your ship are a bad idea in most cases.)

You should also follow the advice we gave you on the previous ship for better powered shields and faster reloading cannons. (Actually, you don't really nead much shields on the sides if you are going to fill that place with missile modules, which would also remove the cannon ammunition issue)

Flak defense could be incredibly helpful on the front, you'll see.

With some improvements you should be able to beat this smaller ship of mine.
(Note: Your initial railgun strike does a lot of damage to this one, keeping them alive longer could already change the outcome of this battle.)

image https://i.imgur.com/lhhFoFz.png

PotatoBoiler

Alpha

PotatoBoiler I'll get a new ship out once my PC comes back to me.

I can probably pump out a ship when I get my computer back.

Alpha (Edit: You don't need to beat it with a ship for roleplaying, but slightly better performance could be useful if you want to use it for combat.)

Yeah, I just feel more motivated when I build ships for rp. Idk why tho.

PotatoBoiler

Alpha
This is also a faction ship,

Alpha Second, what kind of ship is this,

It is an all-rounder. A flagship of sorts.

I just remembered I have another (more recent) ship on my main PC.

Alpha keeping them alive longer could already change the outcome of this battle.

I tried to do that, and just couldn't find a solution.

Alpha Flak defense could be incredibly helpful on the front

This ship is pre-0.14.5.

Alpha You should also follow the advice we gave you on the previous ship for better powered shields and faster reloading cannons.

Yeah, I had this whole design in mind for a faction flagship, so I just didn't have enough space. (Or I was just stupid)

Alpha Try to create a ship which lets most weapons fire at the same time.

I had an unlimited budget, and it had to be completely un-modded. So that's why I couldn't make all of the weapons fire.

Oneye

PotatoBoiler

PotatoBoiler So that's why I couldn't make all of the weapons fire.

I think @Alpha means that you should try to make all the weapons be able to fire at the same spot at the same time, that is why walls are so common.

PotatoBoiler

Oneye

Oneye and in 14.7 (long) railguns don't do enough damage to compete with missiles.

PotatoBoiler This ship is pre-0.14.5.

Oneye For those sizes railguns and missiles are your only good options for making a cost-effective ship,

PotatoBoiler It is an all-rounder. A flagship of sorts

PotatoBoiler This is also a faction ship,

Oneye which guide did you read?

Do's and Don'ts.

PotatoBoiler

Oneye
That's what I mean. All of the weapons can't fire at the same spots because I limited myself to 102x102.

CursedPh4nt0m

PotatoBoiler Good usage of fireing angles, additional points for eb and multi-directional thrust.
Minus points for large cannons on such a small build, ammo factory placement, trust relations (the AI has immense problems controlling something with more forward thrust than in all other directions), usage of crew bunks, lack of internal armor, questionable door placement.
Overall rating: You're one of the better new guys. You should probably still take a look in the guide section (Oneyes guide is a basic for anyone wanting to improve) and may try beating this afterwards:
image https://i.imgur.com/iYDrMaM.png
(Edit: Excuse me beeing late, I wasted roughly a hour getting some ship with a similar price and testing it...)

@Alpha I got bored again... 😅
image https://i.imgur.com/CCgQbjd.png
You think a shielded version of this could be useful for anti-missile/fighter support?
I wanted to try something with PD as main weapon, even tho the large thrusters and all that armor are a bit overkill.

PotatoBoiler

CursedPh4nt0m
I built that ship a while ago, I had a basic understanding of @Oneye's guide, but had no idea the strengths/weaknesses of large cannons. Same goes for the doors, bunks and internal armor.
That ship reminds me of one of my older ships.

CursedPh4nt0m

Alpha Could be you overlooked this?

CursedPh4nt0m
You think a shielded version of this could be useful for anti-missile/fighter support?

Oneye

PotatoBoiler For those sises railguns and missiles are your only good options for making a cost-effective ship, and in 14.7 (long) railguns don't do enough damage to compete with missiles.

Edit: which guide did you read? cause if it was long enough ago it could have been an older outdated one.

Oneye

PotatoBoiler Yeah, there really isnt a very good middle ground between effective and pretty, you can do both but its best to do them on different ships.

PotatoBoiler Do's and Don'ts.

Then I'd suggest reading my much bigger and more up to date guide here: https://forum.cosmoteer.net/d/7783-cosmoteer-ultimate-ship-design-and-part-guide

PotatoBoiler

Oneye
I did, a few minutes ago. Those ships are all pre-0.14.5.

Oneye Yeah, there really isnt a very good middle ground between effective and pretty, you can do both but its best to do them on different ships.

I can see that now, but I didn't a while ago.

PotatoBoiler

Here's a few of my more recent ships.

image https://i.imgur.com/DeamLrI.png

image https://i.imgur.com/cuLEGmo.png

image https://i.imgur.com/q6AtcNK.png

image https://i.imgur.com/sEOkqmc.png

image https://i.imgur.com/6aMxwS0.png

image https://i.imgur.com/ps6pny2.png

Alpha

PotatoBoiler Most of those, especially the bigger ones lack firepower. Flak is good and can also serve as a weapon, but it doesn't replace weapons and does not enough damage to ships.

Jabenyezaa

Hello I just started back playing the game and I've wanted to make more competitively viable ships, I made one here. Also I looked at a few of the guidelines from a few different ship building threads, so I was wondering how to improve this ship, so I can learn how to build better ships in general.

image https://i.imgur.com/Vt7dH2f.png

chief_chaman478

Jabenyezaa i am not one of the teachers/judges but it seems pretty good though in your compartments you use armour as a filler. A corridor could do much better.
image https://i.imgur.com/9vjHv6s.png

Alpha

Jabenyezaa First of all, your ship is aesthetically pleasing. (I really like the shape) It's also very good yo see you're using modules, however, these could be improved. I'm not going to talk about removing some armor, since that isn't your first priority. (I mean, your ship doesn't have its center filled with armor like some do.)

But I'm going to talk about some other things to tweak:

First get rid of corridors that will never be used. Like here above the EMP factory:

image https://i.imgur.com/wZBTpQW.png

Also, certainly follow kieffer5101's advice. It's worth the risk to directly attach your reactors to shields,similiar with factories & cannons.
If you can shorten the path of crew by moving/adding an extra door, do it. Examples for this are the PD at the sides, two of them can be directly attached to the energy storage. It doesn't change much, but the faster a crew memeber can deliver his battery, the faster he can go do something else.
Not all small cannons have armor between them and the shields, you should consider adding it to all of them. The longer shields stay alive, the better.
I think 2 launchers are too much for one EMP factory, but it depends on if you want faster firing or a bigger starting barrage.
The central flak don't have an optimal amount of factories.
The small engine pod in the center of your ship does littly while it still has a reactor. You might want to just remove it. (Or keep it if it's just for aesthetics.)
Crew bunks are to be avoided, replace as much as possible with crew quarters. (Cheaper and uses less space for the amount of crew you get.)

Perhaps you could improve by practice against this older ship of mine. (Don't copy the modules, they're outdated.)

image https://i.imgur.com/3AHRF0P.png

Jabenyezaa

chief_chaman478 I know that compartment is a weak side of my ship, but thanks for the suggestions. Also the ship has FTL drives, because it was a bounty Hunter ship.

Alpha

chief_chaman478 What did you say, corridor as a filler? Blasphemy, that costs too much! 😂

Jabenyezaa
Zones that are unlikely to get hit should have little armor, so don't use armor as fillers, use structures and/or leave places empty.

I will take a more in depth look later, but I can't use my computer at the moment.

kieffer5101

chief_chaman478 first of all, put that reactor right behind those 2 shields. And yes, remove a lot of armor, as 0neye once said to me: you should only place armor where you know you will need it, and not where you think yo will need it.

chief_chaman478

kieffer5101 i think hes said that o everyone XD