Poll: Ship design strategy

[Suicide Junkie]

There are a number of basic ship design strategies; some of these can only be done effectively with a quasi-newtonian propulsion mod.

Nimble & frail: Ships are faster than anything else around, and lack any shields or armor. Theory: You can't lose if the enemy can't hit you.

SwarmShips: Twice the ships, half the size. Weak offense/defense due to size, but tens to hundreds of ships at a time. Theory: Rapid building, safety in numbers, finer control over fleet composition.

MuscleShips: All weapons, with token defenses, and moderate speed. Theory: You can't lose if the enemy is already dead.

FortressShips: All systems organized for defense. Heavy shields/armor, lots of protection against specialty weapons. Moderate speed, few weapons. Theory: If they can't hurt you, you can't lose.

I am deeply devoted to the FortressShip. I've designed and built $100,000 DNs with that goal in mind.
My dad goes for the nimble & frail. Zero KT of defense, but 13+ movement ships that rarely get hit.

Which do you fall under? Or do you have your own style?

[Shoujo]

Swarmships all the way. Swarmer of choice is the Light Cruiser. 10% defense bonus, and large mounts make them pretty viable in the late game (in sufficient numbers of course ). Defense comes mainly from stealth/scattering armor, ECM, and ship/fleet experience, combined with a 20% defense bonus.

[Taqwus]

"I need guns. Lots of guns." Well, perhaps not *extremely* so, but for my BBs/DNs I tend to favor firepower and speed. But then, I play vs. the AI, which doesn't exactly fare well against extensively-trained ships, so being hit isn't that often an issue.

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-- The thing that goes bump in the night

[capnq]

I guess I'd fit under muscle ships. I've been known to sacrifice an engine or two to fit one more weapon in.

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Cap'n Q

The most merciful thing in the world, I think, is the inability of the
human mind to correlate all of its contents. We live on a placid
island of ignorance in the midst of black seas of infinity, and it was
not meant that we should go far. -- HP Lovecraft, "The Call of Cthulhu"

[Phoenix-D]

Max speed, stealth and scattering when they are available, a PD mount, 3-4 shields, sensors, and the guns for me. Occasionally I'll go nuts and make a ship with like 8 shields, but that's ussually when someone pulls out a Null-Space cannon

Phoenix-D

[Neo]

My preferred design so far is kind of a hybrid - Nimble Fortress ships. They have has many engines and movement enhancers as possible, a goodly amount of defense, and just a few powerful guns, and maybe a couple of missiles on the larger ships for long range planetary bombardment. I also like to swarm then into large fleets up to about 30-40 ships if I can with support ships - repair, refueler, mine sweepers, and specialized boarding ships with tractor beams and shield, weapon and engine damagers.

[Rich04]

I would say there is another type you missed and that is the balanced ship.
Good offensive/defensive abilities with decent speed.
This is the type I useally go for. Especially in solo games.
Having said that, my ships in multiplayer tend to adapt to what my opponents are using and what I have to work with. I have used all the types in one game or another.

[LazarusLong42]

I'm with Rich04; I go for very balanced ships. Just like with weapons, each of those ship types has inherent advantages/disadvantages. Nimble ships can't be easily hit by Fortresses; Swarms are so small they're worthless against Muscle; and so forth.

A balanced ship has a chance against all other types, I think.

Of course, my true favorite is a swarm of Fortress and Muscle ships. Who says you can't have a fleet of 70 DN's?

LL

[Shoujo]

When I want balance (which is always) I go for balanced fleets rather than balanced ships. Because weapons have different ranges/reload times it would just seem to work better that way.

[Antonin]

For me it's Nimble & Frail all the way. In my current game I've built only unarmored, unshielded ships with good engines and as many weapons as possible.

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"Gentlemen, we have nearly a thousand ships waiting to be thrown into the fight at the proper moment to seize control of the Foundation. I say we should change that. I say, throw those thousand onto the board now--against the Mule."
-- Randu of Haven, from "Foundation and Empire," by Isaac Asimov