Ship building tips?

[RaptorSolutions]

I just got my first new ship, the Victory Falcon light frigate I think? I can see some simple optimizations, like changing out 4 of the cargo modules for a bigger one. But what else should I know?
I see plates with more resistances, should I swap out for those? What about those self-hardening ones?
How much armor plating do I really need? Feels like I need more.
What about weapons? I could just upgrade them to steel for a 1 to 1 swap, but are some of the bigger 2x1 weapons better? Should I be going for the mana lance thing?
That city where you bring the insurer girl to, I see they sell some kind of carrier bay for 27-28k, is that worth getting? That would take almost all my cash though, so perhaps other upgrades first is better?
What about engines? I'm painfully slow and I heard the Thruster series is good, I have access to small and medium ones now so just upgrade?
For power, should I be going overboard? Or just keep around enough? I'm not exactly sure what it's for atm.
Should I be going for shields now? Seems like a good move, but I don't really understand.

Btw: I also have another 3 corvettes I can use as escorts. Should I bother upgrading them atm? Or should I aim for light frigates first?

[CirceTheSiren]

sooner or later the game will throw stronger ships onto your fleet dont bother with upgrading corvettes even light frigates have only limited space to place 2x2 or 2X3 turret with guns to deafeat stronger shields also more shields are needed later and some beam turrets to get rid of enemy fighters and missilies you should mix and replace anything cheap,slow firing rate with low range or arc with something better asap

[RaptorSolutions]

What about things like power, material and ammo? I noticed that fuel seems to be a ship stat that cannot be changed.
I assume material and ammo are things I'll get a feel for and adjust accordingly, but how do I determine how much power I need? I assume that firstly my recharge should be higher than my consumption. And then perhaps capacity as a multiplier of my consumption?

[Halcyon]

power needs to be net positive. Shooting guns consumes X power per shot, shown in weapon details. Shields in particular require a lot of power to keep up, and some tactics from officers as well. I find that if you're heavily armed and a fight drags on, losing power can be a real hindrance but otherwise it's not usually a problem as long as you're at a net positive. I recommend getting one of the recycling stations that gives you material regen, as that means you can always repair.

[RaptorSolutions]

Originally posted by Halcyon:

power needs to be net positive. Shooting guns consumes X power per shot, shown in weapon details. Shields in particular require a lot of power to keep up, and some tactics from officers as well. I find that if you're heavily armed and a fight drags on, losing power can be a real hindrance but otherwise it's not usually a problem as long as you're at a net positive. I recommend getting one of the recycling stations that gives you material regen, as that means you can always repair.

Are recycling stations something late game? Or are they those together with all the officers quarters? I remember seeing some recycler thing but I forgot and I'm away from the docks atm.
Actually, how do I hunt down ship parts anyway?

[CirceTheSiren]

you need to visit all shipyard and faction/commissions shop bookmark anything special and then they get themselves placed onto the shopping list for quick reference where to get them.
do yourself a favor and put any item that is needed to promote officers directly bookmarked and collect them instantly some are very rare though you could send them via freighters/or produce them to a location nearby just build a warehouse and upgrade the hangars eyerywhere you go.
some items are only availabe at few locations and i promise you wont remember as soon as you need them again.

[RaptorSolutions]

Originally posted by CirceTheSiren:

you need to visit all shipyard and faction/commissions shop bookmark anything special and then they get themselves placed onto the shopping list for quick reference where to get them.
do yourself a favor and put any item that is needed to promote officers directly bookmarked and collect them instantly some are very rare though you could send them via freighters/or produce them to a location nearby just build a warehouse and upgrade the hangars eyerywhere you go.
some items are only availabe at few locations and i promise you wont remember as soon as you need them again.

Good tip. Thanks.
I've been using the bookmark a little. I should use it more.

[keylocke]

some weapons have a higher tier versions. look for the gold or purple tier version of a weapon that you like.

i usually avoid using torpedoes or mines, but if you got a jormungandr with insane amount of shields, blasting these babies at point blank will insta rip a giant hole through any ship's hull.

there are two types of shields : high capacity and high regen.
try to get your shields, shield regen, and energy regen as high as you can.

don't sleep on getting dozens of alpha hawks. they're fast at chasing and can easily wreck enemy's arse once their shields are down.. it also makes it faster to deal with small nuisance fleets that randomly blocks your path while traveling.

some companions can manufacture unique ship parts that only they can craft.