Building Academy

Fort_Master_Gustav

Astrum You are progressing! Usually on a module you want to push the reactor to the limit of its efficiency, and putting the EB and PD helps with that.
Also, yes, that is a way to use triangles, wiggling side-to-side to expose half of your ship at once and half at the other time is not only a valid strat but oftentimes a beneficial one, although, the way that your EBs are arranged, it seems to be a necessity, I'd probably re-do the module's positioning in a way that the 1x1 slope connected directly to the EB, rather than being 1 block farther up.
Also, I see a problem, the front of yor triangle is rather weakn, unshielded and without much armor, that is a problem, as if the actual tip of the triangle is gone you are severely exposed, since then the enemy has a clear shot to the undefended sides of your modules, and they destroy your sides extremely quick by doing so.

Astrum

Fort_Master_Gustav Gotcha. Thanks a ton for the advice. I really do appreciate it. I will take all of that into consideration when I return in a bit. I took your advice along with kieffer5101 and uparmored the nose cone at the loss of some PD.

Final design, for right this moment:

image https://i.imgur.com/D6jDRr8.png

EDIT: I will say, even if it isn't an effective design... I must say it's gotta be my favorite visually. I love the way these angled ships look. Also forgot to mention, trying to keep the price under 750k, but its not a huge deal if i go over in this case. After all, this is my first design of this type.

kieffer5101

Astrum those eb wont be able to fire infront of the ship, try pushing each module up one block. you also dont have a armor cone on the top making it easy for ships to dig into your ship from the front

Astrum

kieffer5101 Yeah, the EB need some work, but this whole thing is starting to hurt my eyes after a while. I'll come around and fix some problems after a well needed break. As for the armor cone, I have point defense up there, which needs to be accessible by crew. Not sure how to up armor it much more.

Fort_Master_Gustav

Astrum It's pretty intuitive, you'll see, most of it is, the way I do it, copying a module and placing it in sequence, and then seeing how the red weapon arc projections compare to the next module, to make sure that their aiming capacity isn't hindered.

kieffer5101

Astrum you also might want some engine rooms to boost your thrusters, here is one of my ships as an example (yes, the paint is broken)
image https://i.imgur.com/SAfmTBw.png

Astrum

kieffer5101 Ooh, that's a neat design. I considered adding engine rooms, but ultimately this design is rather tiny. Maybe on a future design that can afford more space. Also, how well does the flak work there? I noticed the flak gun's poor turning radius even on flat wall designs, hence why I didn't even attempt to include it here (along with the aforementioned "the design is small" problem).

EDIT: Also what do you mean, "the paint is broken"? Seems pretty snazzy to me. Looks better than mine. Or am I missing something?

kieffer5101

Astrum the angle if the triangle used to be a little larger, then i made the angle wider but didnt update the paint yet.

Astrum

kieffer5101 Gotcha. Still looks cool, in my opinion. Like the color selection.

Astrum

Made a slightly larger design, for the primary purpose of adding more shielding. (Figure I'd add improvements as I go, so I haven't modified the angle and thrust much, for instance).

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

Notable improvements are namely defensive, including rear armor to protect the engines from missiles that get around the back (something I wanted in the first design, but didn't have the space for), and of course, and additional shield for each compartment. There are also more engines in general (though this is balanced by it's larger size and increased weight). I did also incorporate a few engine rooms (I plan on redesigning so I can add more later). The nose cone is also shielded, though not entirety. Will likely redesign that too.

Fort_Master_Gustav

Astrum Well, I would scrap the FTLS, they cost too much, unless you want to make it for Bounty Hunter, then it's up to you.
Back armor isn't really necessary, missiles can't attack your back as it is right now, because of changes on their targeting and maneuvering.
Engine part definetly needs a re-work, modules are actually pretty good, good job on that part, but maybe remove some armor all around, mainly on interior, that's generally what I do anyways.
Also, yes, you should try to make it with different angles, experimentation, in the end, will give much more information than what we say, after all, how do you think that we know this anyways? XD

Astrum

Fort_Master_Gustav Good calls. I dunno why I really stuck the FTLs in. I guess I just like them, and I wasn't too worried about going over price (yet). I meant to keep this design within the 1.5 million and below range. Interesting thing about the missiles. I might remove the rear armor, in that case. It's sorta ugly, anyways.

I'll most likely cut down on excess armor too. I know using it as filler is a cardinal sin, but as far as aesthetics go, (which I always like to try and blend with good design, with generally miserable results), armor and corridors make good visuals. I'm desperate for some frame blocks that have the weight and cost of the normal structure, but can be painted. Hopefully some day...

EDIT : I was redesigning before you commented, and did this:
image https://i.imgur.com/XUTWegL.png
Will now take your suggestions into account.

CrazyBirdie

Fort_Master_Gustav Back armor isn't really necessary, missiles can't attack your back as it is right now, because of changes on their targeting and maneuvering.

I have had multiple occasions (in BH; I'm not sure about multiplayer) where the missiles initially miss but circle around and are able to get at the engines once the target is slowed/stopped by weapons fire or EMPs.

Fort_Master_Gustav

Astrum Same complaints as earlier, in general, cull away some useless armor, do better thrusters, all of them on modules, the back armor , what I usually do, is a layer of struts and a layer of 1x2 slopes, just to catch any stray shots.
The pine-cone is looking vairly good, as long as it doesn't get in the way of the angle (which, now that I look at it, it might) it's a good design, shielding inside of it is really optional, but depending on how you use it, it may be very beneficial.

Astrum

Fort_Master_Gustav Yep, yep. I made these changes before I read your comment, but figured I'd post it anyways. I'll be sure to work on the other things as you've mentioned.

Astrum

Quickly throwing up what I did so far, unfortunately I am out of time for right this moment, so the rest of the improvements will have to wait!

EDIT: Did a little more. Still need more time to finish.
image https://i.imgur.com/D5RLdQ9.png

CursedPh4nt0m

Astrum (Damn, built some updated version of the smaller ship, now I can scrap all that work! Nice you improved your ship that much tho.)
You should remove one of the crew quarters in the tip, move the CRs from the outside to different thruster modules, put the PD before the EB (the HLB last), check the door (and corridor) placement and possibly tweak the thrusters, they seem like you simply threw some stuff together wherever you had enough space (which might actually be true).
That's about everything I spotted, now to build something for you to fight against... (Might take some time as I'm also trying to get back into modded building.)

Fort_Master_Gustav

CrazyBirdie It's really dependant on what you're doing with your ship, most of the times that won't happen, and it generally happens with EMP missiles.

CrazyBirdie

Fort_Master_Gustav I have found that a mix of EMPs and HEs (perhaps with some nukes) is very effective.

Fort_Master_Gustav

CrazyBirdie Nowadays just pure HE spam also works really well, seeing as people invest a lot in flak, which can one-shot EMPs (Don't know if that's changed), but can't contain too many missiles at once.

CrazyBirdie

Fort_Master_Gustav EMPs are fast and flak has a limited angle of sight, so they are still effective. The mix of EMPs and HEs allows some of the HEs to take the flak shots and allow the EMPs to get in.

Fort_Master_Gustav

CrazyBirdie takes some 3 HE to take down a shield, and EMPs get soaked up by armor too easily, although it depends what you're fighting