[Pax]

Originally posted by Suicide Junkie:
Just to throw a monkey wrench into the works here, how about battle damage?

Would it be easier to recalculate the thrust balance and vectoring in order to fly straight after a torpedo has torn a chunk out of your hull given a previously-symmetrical ship or not?

Presuming your species is "normal" and needs water, possibly in large quantities ... place your water tanks in such a way as to permit shedding weight where you need to to rebalance the ship (at least partially).

Also consider, against many energy weapons -- especially lasers! -- misting water out around your ship, soit freezes into gajillions of ice crystals in a cloud, is a decent form of protection from the beams. As long as it refracts optically, a cloud of ice crystals will diffuse it a bit before it hits your ARMOR.