How to Start Designing Ships?

[americanman_4_life]

Hello... anyone help me please?

I can't figure out how to start designing ships.

[Sloan]

Tactical or strategic combat. Always choose tactical combat, otherwise you can't design your own ships and can only use those generated by the game software, which are usually pretty poor. If you don't want hands-on control of combat, just click the "Auto" button at the beginning of each battle
https://strategywiki.org/wiki/Master_of_Orion_II:_Battle_at_Antares/Starting_a_game

[Delthea]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CltOd1ent2Y&t=2979s
1:02:05 - I design a ship in that video at that time.

If the option to design is grayed out, then it's as frazy76 said, and you have "strategic combat" selected from the game setup screen.

[americanman_4_life]

Appreciate all your help...
Problem is, I'm in Tactical Combat game, and it doesn't show me the option to "Design Ship" right away. It finally comes up, after I get through some research.

What research is required in game before I'm allowed to Design?

[Rocco_40]

Originally posted by americanman_4_life:

[...]What research is required in game before I'm allowed to Design?

The minimum tech you need is some Fuel Tanks and a Drive. And if you are a Trans-Dimensional race you don't even need a drive, only fuel tanks.

[Delthea]

Originally posted by Rocco_40:

Originally posted by americanman_4_life:

[...]What research is required in game before I'm allowed to Design?

The minimum tech you need is some Fuel Tanks and a Drive. And if you are a Trans-Dimensional race you don't even need a drive, only fuel tanks.

And that's only in pre-warp games. If you're not in pre-warp, you should be able to design on turn one.

[SuburbanHermit]

Originally posted by Rocco_40:

Originally posted by americanman_4_life:

[...]What research is required in game before I'm allowed to Design?

The minimum tech you need is some Fuel Tanks and a Drive. And if you are a Trans-Dimensional race you don't even need a drive, only fuel tanks.

After you get Standard Fuel Cells and a Nuclear Drive, you're ready for ship design.

On a side note, a good beginning build my bro showed me long ago:
Battle pods (for 50% more space)
Research Merculite Missile (to get Nuclear Missile refinement)

Build a frigate, no shields, no computer, add the following:
Battle pods (in special ship systems)

Nuclear Missile - Select the "Fast" and "MIRV" refinments
x2 launcher (the + sign), 2 shots (meaning only two volleys)

Super low-cost, highly powerful starter ships. A small fleet of 3-5 can take out early destroyers and even cruisers. I've even used them for many turns in just because of how fast and how many you can produce for super cheap.

Those Nuke MIRVs are really devastating, especially before everyone has shields - and adding the Fast refinement means they get to the target quick. The only trouble with them is they're squishy, so you may have to bug out after firing your second shot, and then leave one behind to make sure all your missiles hit before retreating.

Another cool thing is that you can do similar later on with Merculite and Pulson missiles, only in much larger ships.

[Emperator Orionii]

Yeah, nukes are the most powerful early game weapon. They are no joke even without refinment. Building 10-12 missile frigates you described and you can take out any space monster.

I personally prefer beams for the fun but realistically starting with missiles is much stronger play. They require a lot less tech to stay powerful and chances are you'll get other useful stuff along the way like better armor, more industry (less pollution), longer range.