[Growltigga]

With respect to ship design, I do like the philosophy put forward by Suicide Junky/Atrocities (apologies guys, I cannot remember which of you it was).

The coda went as follows:

1 select your hull, and then add the requisite amount of bridge, life support and crew quarters for that hull size

2 max out on engines, and if available, stick in a solar sail

3 divide the remaining hull spaces in half, and allocate allocate one half for defensive systems, the other half for offensive systems of your choice

4 once you have this design save it, then copy it over and tweak it a bit

5 go to the simulator and fight both designs against each other a few times - go with the one that wins the most