You can always use the minister to get the base designs down and the customize them.
You can also check different race designs out by switching them to human control at various points of the game and studying their designs, they may use a component combination you haven't thought of, particularly the modded races.
A question for you old hands: do most of you design your own ships or rely on the minister? Does the minister do a reasonable job compared to the designs you come up with on your own?
I love it also started with SE3 I myself do not use ministers I did one time to move POP around but I could do it 1 faster and
2 better
------------------ mottlee@gte.net
"Kill em all let God sort em out"
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Kill em all let God sort em out