[DirectorTsaarx]

I only have two suggestions about ship design:

1) In the standard game, make your ships as fast as possible. (For SJ's Pirates & Nomads, or other mods that use proportional movement, you'll need to find the right balance between speed & weapons/armor/etc.).

2) Don't forget to use combat sensors and ECM on your attack ships; and don't forget to use ECM on ANY ship that will be in battle on a regular basis (like the supply and repair ships you should be including with fleets).

There are, of course, exceptions to the first rule; for instance, to fit a space yard on a cruiser hull you generally have to give up an engine (unless you have master computers). That's perfectly acceptable, and better than using a battle cruiser hull for the space yard ship and either wasting space or adding unnecessary components (and, therefore, unnecessary expense).

There are very few exceptions to the second rule (ships armed only with seekers don't need combat sensors, for instance).