Though I enjoy fiddling around with Gremak designs the most, my favorite individual style is the Terros Ligth Cruiser in the below configuration (with disruptor guns and a round PD turret on the top)

This is not considering small crafts where Human bombers win by a landslide

The design reminds me strongly on Wing Commander Prophecy and always looking for a way to update it in a way that I can keep using them in my games

Besides the nostalgia factor, it also has an aura of authentictiy to it: the ship looks like it might actually be able to fly in atmospheric conditions as well (though probalby not, it does remind me of a Black Bird), which might actually be expected from a small cruiser especially since it does not require a space contruction module. The same cannot be said from the Ashdar Destroyer, which while a sleek design, I have a harder time emagining to be flying around and leaving the atmosphere. This is probably why I like the idea of the smallest ships (not requiring construction module) to deviate from the larger ships in style and be more sleek and aerodynamic.

My least favorite has to be the Tinker Destroyer and the reason is quite simple: most races have a distinct difference between their destroyer and all of their other designs that follow a common theme. I find the Tinkers to a be an exception of this where it seems that the overall design theme (especially the light cruiser) has influenced much more heavy the Destroyer design where I find it doesn't work. While the concept for the race is clear I wish it was a bit more sleek design like a Cylon Raider but the additional widening around the sphere just doesn't work for me

To be clear: I do enjoy the larger Tinker models a lot especially the Light and Heavy Cruiser designs around which I think all other Tinker ships were designed

favorite? the yoral advanced destroyer. its a very economical ship for what i get out of it. i really like the way all the yoral ships look except for the dreadnought that looks like weird wings. i also really like orthin and ashdar ships

i think my least favorite design is the super dreadnought since it's common to all races and looks outta place compared to racial designs. the death stars are fine - i think they're cool. i just have never actually built one cuz by that time in the game i'm typically winning by steamroll. i'd say the others i dislike are almost all the tinker ships. i actually like the one you posted and dislike the elongated ships.

rhinoinsomniac wrote:favorite? the yoral advanced destroyer. its a very economical ship for what i get out of it. i really like the way all the yoral ships look except for the dreadnought that looks like weird wings.

Fully agree: Advanced destroyer looks great and is very effective with railguns.
Yoral dreadnought is strange: from a game mechanic aspect it is great that it is limited with its fire-arch but just looks so strange I never build these beasts, though this might also have to do with my fatique of the model during early games when the AI was mass-producing them

I do love the super-dread though: it is sleek and just wunderfully high-tech In the lore, they are reverse-egineered tech from the past so it makes some sense that they are the same for all factions. Also don't have many cases where I get to the late-game to actually use them, but when I do it feels awesome: just having a game right now where they will come into play and can hardly wait (I already boarded the derelict unit on the map and will turn it agaisnt the Tickers: a perfect match)

I really like the ships with well defined and unique roles - the small Ashdar vessels, Gremak vessels, and even the clearly improvised Phidi designs. Yoral small ships are cool, but I felt got outclassed quickly (except torpedo boats).

Tinker ships always strike me as 'a series of platforms for more missiles', which makes it hard for me to enjoy. They also operate best (as all long-range strategies do, especially missiles) in a giant death ball, which limits interesting decisions about what and where to commit fleetpower.

I haven't tried Humans yet.

Dragar wrote:Tinker ships always strike me as 'a series of platforms for more missiles', which makes it hard for me to enjoy. They also operate best (as all long-range strategies do, especially missiles) in a giant death ball, which limits interesting decisions about what and where to commit fleetpower.

I haven't tried Humans yet.

Agreed with Tinkers: they really only allow for usage of rocket type weapons - that is why I have only played them once I like some of their designs but the rocket gimick does not allow for other tactics

You need to try Humans once you feel you got the hang of the game - they have awesome designs and represent hardcore difficulty

Most Favorite:

Yoral Torp Destroyer: FIRE EVERYTHING!

Least Favorite:

Ashdar Missile Cruiser: WHY DOES THIS THING EVEN EXIST? It claims it has unrivalled missile capacity for something of its class, but it has a missile throw weight of *5*, making it the worst ship in the already somewhat anemic Ashdar lineup. I can get a better missile salvo out of the starter light cruiser! What is the point of this thing?

The same is true of the Human missile cruiser. They come with extra munitions built in, but they're fairly underwhelming in terms of potential loadout.

Maybe if the missile cruisers had a special attack, like the fast missile racks from master of orion, double or triple throw weight but takes turns to reload.

Dragar wrote:The same is true of the Human missile cruiser. They come with extra munitions built in, but they're fairly underwhelming in terms of potential loadout.

The human missile cruiser IS a slightly more effective missile slinger labor and metal wise than the human heavy cruiser that is also slightly more effective than the human light cruiser.

The ashdar missile cruiser however is MILES behind the performance of the ashdar light cruiser and currently lacks a reason to exist ..
The tinker missile cruiser is also inferior in every way (labor/metal/science) to the tinker light cruiser ..

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/ ... sp=sharing

I like the idea of increased rocket/torpedo speed in case of launch tubes (Ashdar missile cruiser, Gremak ships).

Ashdar battlecruiser would also get some missiles every now and then with the tube art that we mostly don't get to see since it is clearly an inferior choice compared to heavy mount - if it could fire mcuh faster missiles though, might just be worth it