Ok I found the link to this review here on shrapnel:
http://www.strategy-gaming.com/previews/space_empire_4/
It states: "Ships are built like the old tabletop game Starfire - within a given weight for a hull size, components are added in linear order, left to right. Damage in combat is applied from right to left, giving would-be ship designers some strategic choice even at the ship-design level. Do you put your guns to the right of engines, allowing semi-damaged ships to (hopefully) escape to fight another day? Or do you put the engines to the right of the guns, protecting your weapons possibly the few more moments needed to win a critical fight?"
Is this statement correct?
jars_u
Ok its after 12am - where is the new demo already?!?!?!