Basic principles of ship design.

How the hell did you come up with that?

By: George Argyropoulos
a/k/a Dragon_Bane

There are always questions asked about how one comes up with a ship design. Many times one of us posts a video or screen capture or we have a bunch of people watching us auto something like a 91 Megahull and the invariable messages come in: ‘What’s that build mate?’, ‘Will you share that design?’, ‘How many ships and what’s on them’, etc, etc.

Now, there are times when we don’t share the builds right away, or, we know some info that we really don’t want out there immediately. What I’d like to see, is more people trying their hand at shipbuilding themselves- or at least come up with a solid design instead of just begging for a design.

A lot of what goes into a build is the understanding of the interaction of your selections of weapons and specials as well as the understanding of the mechanics of the game with regard to these interactions.

While there are several things we could discuss about design, I am going to use a recent Apollo build and go through some of the BASIC thought process behind them.

1. The Blade missile selection and placement.

Placement is key in this instance as the weapon speed is the same as the Switchblades, thus, in most instances, they will lead the barrage of missiles from this hull. The result of this is that the enemy wastes Phalanx shots at missiles with flak evasion first, hopefully missing and wasting their Phalanxes while maintaining a higher dps for you. You can see the Blades leading the Switchblades in the picture below.

Addendum:
Final build for the Apollo fleet:
Apollo fleet
You will note the third Apollo has one additional Phalanx 4.

2. Phalanx 4 selection.

You will also note in the picture above, the Phalanxes firing while the Switchblades stay in missile mode. The Phalanxes have a longer range than the Switchblades. This means that you can take advantage of a game mechanic itself - how the missile counter measure works. Since it has a longer range, and you can only fire at each missile one time, using the Phalanx countermeasure allows the Switchblades to stay in missile mode, taking advantage of the higher damage output. With careful driving, you can keep the switchblades firing in missile mode constantly.

Of Note: Using Switchblades comes with a cost. I believe there is a glitch in the game causing ALL Switchblades to go into CM mode when even just one does, so while they have a better DPS over standard Blades, it comes at the cost of necessitating superb driving in order to take advantage of the increased offensive potential.

3. Switchblades over Blades.

This is a choice that has both merits and disadvantages, and in some ways, grows controversial in heated all-important, world-shattering internet arguments.

The Good: The Switchblade has more one-shot damage and better DPS than the Blades. It also, in a bad situation, can switch over to anti-missile mode.

The Bad: The Switchblade can switch over to anti-missile mode, and when it does, they ALL do (currently), not just the ones that shoot at a missile. (Is this a glitch? As previously mentioned, I think so, but I can't get a clear answer on this from anyone.)

This build is not for lazy pirates. If you don't want to pay attention to your driving, go with Blades. This build necessitates concentration and good driving to maximize these selections. Personally, I love it. It can in fact auto the 91 Mega hulls very well for acceptable damage. See:

4. Appropriate specials.

This is where a build can fall apart on you. Each special is chosen as a balancing act. These three are rather easy because of either their percentage attributes and/or their space saving nature because of the duality of their purpose. In reviewing these choices, I hope the reasoning behind them is apparent. If not, please ask.

5. Meta applicability.

The ability to adapt a build to a change in meta OR design towards specific goals. There are times that you want an all-around build like an Arblest Punisher fleet, and then there are times when you have something built more towards a specific meta or target, such as these Apollos. The choice of Reactive Armor III reflects the nature of this build to be towards the Raid/Mega Hull meta and targets. Likewise, in the next meta, Ablative Armor III will be one of the items to choose to adapt to the newest Raid Meta.


Hopefully this helps some people understand the basics of what we think through when designing a ship or a fleet. Likewise, I hope this also helps people understand the layers that are looked at when starting this process. The mechanics of the game are constantly being overlooked, and sometimes one can find you some very peculiar, but very effective builds.