Ship Design
The default ship templates give every new player the same tools. Ship Design changes that - it lets you fill each hull's component slots with weapons, armor, shields, utilities, and auxiliary modules of your choice, letting the same hull class perform very differently depending on what you're trying to do.
How It Works
Each hull has a fixed set of slots defined by size (S/M/L) and type (Weapon, Armor, Shield, Utility, Auxiliary). You build a design by choosing one component per slot. Designs are saved to your player record (up to 30 active designs) and referenced when queuing ships in the shipyard.
Ships built without a design use the default template stats. Ships built from a design inherit the component stats instead.
Slot Configurations
| Hull | Total Slots | Slot Layout |
|---|---|---|
| Fighter | 3 | S Weapon · S Armor · S Utility |
| Bomber | 4 | M+S Weapon · S Armor · S Aux |
| Cruiser | 5 | M Weapon · M Armor · S Shield · S Utility · S Aux |
| Battleship | 6 | L+M Weapon · M Armor · M Shield · M Utility · S Aux |
| Dreadnought | 7 | L×2 Weapon · L Armor · L Shield · M+S Utility · M Aux |
| Colony Ship | 3 | S Armor · S Shield · M Utility |
| Cargo Ship | 3 | S Armor · M+S Utility |
| Spy Probe | 1 | S Utility |
| Salvager | 4 | S Armor · M+S Utility · S Aux |
| Void Hunter | 6 | M+S Weapon · M Armor · M Shield · M Utility · M Aux |
| Spectral Frigate | 5 | M Weapon · M Armor · L Shield · M Utility · S Aux |
| Xenotech Carrier | 7 | L+M Weapon · L Armor · L Shield · M+S Utility · L Aux |
| Annihilator | 8 | L×2+M Weapon · L Armor · L Shield · M Utility · L+M Aux |
Components
48 components across 5 types and 4 tiers. Tiers 2–4 are gated behind research; tiers 3–4 also require exotic materials.
Research Gates
| Tier | Engineering Research Required |
|---|---|
| 1 | None |
| 2 | Advanced Alloys |
| 3 | Capital Ship Engineering + exotic material |
| 4 | Megastructure Theory + exotic material |
Weapons (12)
| Tier | Components |
|---|---|
| 1 | Pulse Laser, Kinetic Cannon, Missile Pod |
| 2 | Plasma Cannon, Gauss Rifle, Torpedo Bay |
| 3 | Disruptor Beam, Mass Driver, Void Lance |
| 4 | Singularity Projector, Antimatter Torpedo, Nova Cannon |
Armor (8)
| Tier | Components |
|---|---|
| 1 | Hull Plating, Reactive Armor |
| 2 | Composite Armor, Ablative Coating |
| 3 | Crystalline Matrix, Nano-Repair Hull |
| 4 | Living Metal Weave, Phase-Shift Plating |
Shields (8)
| Tier | Components |
|---|---|
| 1 | Deflector Array, Energy Shield |
| 2 | Hardened Barrier, Ion Dampener |
| 3 | Quantum Shield, Regenerative Field |
| 4 | Dark Matter Barrier, Void Shell |
Utility (12)
| Tier | Components |
|---|---|
| 1 | Cargo Expander, Fuel Optimizer, Scanner Array |
| 2 | Drive Booster, ECM Suite, Targeting Computer |
| 3 | Warp Stabilizer, Stealth Module, Fleet Link |
| 4 | Quantum Drive, Phase Cloak, Command Relay |
Auxiliary (8)
| Tier | Components |
|---|---|
| 1 | Emergency Thrusters, Repair Drone |
| 2 | Point Defense, Tactical Computer |
| 3 | Assault Bay, Electronic Warfare Suite |
| 4 | Doomsday Device, Singularity Core |
Design Strategies
Anti-fighter Cruiser: Load weapon slots with Missile Pod or Torpedo Bay (good vs. small hulls), stack Ablative Coating and Ion Dampener for survivability against swarms.
Fuel-efficient patrol fleet: Fighter + Fuel Optimizer in the utility slot + Warp Stabilizer (tier 3) cuts fuel costs dramatically for long patrol circuits.
Siege Battleship: Swap the M Utility for a Drive Booster and max weapon slots with Plasma Cannon + Gauss Rifle - trades speed for pure alpha damage on fortified planets.
Salvage Dreadnought: Cargo Expander fills both utility slots, Repair Drone in the aux - the ship collects debris and self-repairs after combat.