Ship Design Guide

A guide dealing specifically with ship design. Many of the other guides have old information. Development of this game ceased some time ago, so nothing in this guide should become out of date.

I showcase many optimized early game designs. This allows them to be research neutral, so they are not affected by the player's research choices. My intention is for players to learn to create their own good designs for later in the game.

Ship Classes

Ship hulls in the game are divided into five classes, which affects the number of Command Points (CP) that the ship uses.

Corvettes

Small and weak, primarily due to the weak selection of weapons available that will fit on them. It's generally only worth having the number of corvettes that are permitted for free.

- The number of free corvettes available is equal to your maximum CP.
- Additional corvettes cost 1 CP each, with no need for a command module.

The selection of weapons that will fit on corvettes is extremely limited. Most corvette hulls are limited to 1x1 Mini Rockets at the start of the game. Later they can be armed with 1x2 Phoenix Cannons, but even then the CP will always be better spent on larger classes. The Kulrathi and Opteris are fortunate enough to have corvettes that can equip 2x2 weapons, which increases their options immensely.

Frigates

Frigates are the first class that can make use of regular weaponry. Like the corvettes, you can have a certain number that don't cost any CP.

- The number of free frigates available is equal to half of your maximum CP, rounded up.
- Additional frigates cost 1 CP each with a 2x2 command module. They cost 2 CP without a command module.
- Free frigates still count as free if they don't have a command module, and are counted first if you have more frigates than free frigates. This means that if you can have 4 free frigates, but you have 6 frigates, then as long as two of them have a command module, there will be no penalty.

I've seen some people eschew frigates as worthless, but they can be very useful, especially since you can build some for 0 CP. Firstly, they can fill utility roles. They can be explorers, fuel tankers for the fleet, point defense protection, and fill various combat support roles.

Cruisers

As the largest ship class available for at least the first half of the game, these designs are a mainstay for your fleets.

- Cruisers cost 2 CP with a 3x3 command module and 3 CP without a command module.

Battleships

Battleship hulls are not available until researched. They used to be a difficult choice, but now they are a guaranteed tech, so you can be confident that the time you spend making good designs here won't be wasted.

Titans

These are the largest hulls in the game. They require a research choice. Titans are more useful for some species than others.

Starbases

Starbases cannot be customized, but they do automatically improve as new technology is acquired.

At the start of a game, a starbase has the following weapons with 360 degree arcs:
- 3 Artillery
- 3 Spinal Rockets (1x3)
- 3 Laser Cannon Dual Turrets (3x3)
- 3 Flak Cannon Turrets

- The Artillery will be upgraded with Mass Drivers
- The Spinal Rockets will be upgraded with Cruise Missiles
- Starbase armor will use the highest HP armor available
- Shields will be added and upgraded

A Starbase will always have three of each weapon. Getting more requires upgrading to a Battle Station or Star Fortress.

Fighters

Fighters start out with Laser Cannons and Steel Armor.

Their weapons upgrade with most, but not all, beam techs (despite starting with a cannon tech). The relevant techs are marked in the tech tree during a campaign game. They are not marked in the scenario editor.

In addition, their HP will increase with stronger armor technology. Unlike a starbase, they will not gain shields with any shield tech. For that, they require the Fighter Shields tech.

Note that researching armor that doesn't have more HP per plate than your current armor will not benefit your fighters. For example, Solar Armor has the same HP per plate as Steel Armor, so fighters won't gain any HP from it. Armor weight doesn't seem to be a factor.

Early Weapon Types

Starting Weapons

1x1 Mini Rocket
Very basic rockets. These fire one rocket at a time. Mainly used on corvettes due to the lack of alternatives that will fit.

2x2 Rocket Turret
Technically, these are micro-missiles, not rockets, since they are guided. They fire in 3-shot bursts. The guidance, the much larger firing arcs, and the burst-fire make these far superior to the 1x1 rockets. The arcs are particularly beneficial for weapons placed on the sides of the ship.

1x3 Spinal Rocket
These are very different from the previous options. These are large and very slow guided missiles. Testing shows that they have a speed of 20. They have very long range though, and do a ton of damage when they hit. However, they're useless against enemies with decent point-defenses. Spamming these can overwhelm enemy point-defense, up to a point. Typically these are useful at the start of the game, but they will become ineffective as enemy fleet sizes increase.

Lasers
In Stardrive 2, laser weapons rapidly fire energy projectiles, rather than beams. They are not very accurate, and rely on a high volume of fire to be effective. Ship modules that improve accuracy and gaining crew levels (which improves accuracy) will increase the effectiveness of these weapons dramatically.

1x1 PD Laser
These tiny lasers are only intended for point-defense. While they will fire at enemy ships at point-blank range, their damage is so pitiful that it could take 20 minutes to destroy a single ship, if they don't shoot back. They are very useful for their intended function, however.

2x2 Laser Turret
A basic laser turret.

1x3 Spinal Laser
These fixed-mount lasers will only fire forwards, regardless of what section of the ship they are placed in.

3x3 Laser Turret
These large laser turrets are tied for the highest DPS per square with the 1x3 Spinal Laser. Three Spinal Lasers have the same DPS as one 3x3 Dual Laser Turret, but the 3x3 has much larger arcs, making it my laser of choice when there's room.


2x2 Flak Turret
These fire shells that burst, giving this weapon splash damage. Although it will fire at enemy ships, this is primarily a PD weapon. As such, they are excellent for destroying swarms of incoming rockets, and are decent against fighters.

2x2 Vulcan Turret
An extremely rapid-fire ballistic weapon. This is a weapon that can function as PD or engage enemy ships effectively. Since it does not have AoE, it's less effective at taking out a cloud of mini-rockets than the Flak Cannon, but it can target individual rockets with ease. It's better than the Flak Cannon against fighters. The biggest downside of this weapon is its staggering ammunition consumption rate.

3x2 Artillery
As the name implies, this is a long range weapon that fires ballistic projectiles. However, it does not have splash damage. These will hit incoming rockets, but PD cannot shoot the artillery projectile.

These will not fire forwards if placed on the sides of the ship, but they can be used to make ships that are designed to remain stationary, but face their broadside towards the enemy. In fact, they can even be armed on only one side, with the other side used to store ordnance, etc.

Early Researchable Weapons

2x2 Plasma Cannon Turret
One of the first weapons that can be researched, the Plasma Cannon fires balls of flaming plasma that cause damage on impact and continue to cause a lot of DoT (Damage over Time). They don't have much range and aren't very accurate. They also require both energy and ordnance.

2x2 Ion Beam Turret
Ion Beams are the first beam weapon available for research. All beam weapons in Stardrive 2 are 100% accurate. They're not the easiest weapon to design for though. More on that later.

2x2 Fusion Beam Turret
Fusion Beams are available for research immediately after Ion Beams, but it's a tough trade-off between them and Fusion Engines. Fusion Beams cause the same amount of damage as Ion Beams against shields and armor, but they cause twice as much damage against the hull (any component other than armor). I could be mistaken about the armor, but my testing seems to bear that out.

Mass Driver
Mass Drivers are long range artillery weapons. They are a direct improvement over the starting Artillery weapon. Unlike the Artillery weapon, these always face forwards, regardless of where they're located on the ship.

2x5 Spinal Mass Driver

2x4 Spinal Snub Mass Driver

Ship Tips

Damage

Each component has its own hit points, and can be destroyed separately. Where damage is applied is determined first by which arc is hit on the target ship, and then by row. Whether or not the specific location within an arc that is hit matters varies. Damage to the front is applied from left to right (on the same row), regardless of what part of the front arc is hit. This is particularly noticeable on hulls that just have a flat edge in front. However, damage to the side arcs is particular about where in the side it gets hit.

This likely is not modeled when using autoresolve.

Explorer

Most of the default exploration ships are inefficient and a few have glaring mistakes. Depending on which species you're playing as, it may behoove you to update the starter exploration ship on turn 1. Here are the things to think about when creating an explorer design:

1) The 2x2 fuel modules hold more fuel than four 1x1 modules. Maximize the number of 2x2 modules.
2) Some of the default exploration frigates use a 3x3 command module. This offers no benefit whatsoever. A frigate should use a 2x2 command module.
3) There's no need for more than one 1x1 engine module. It only affects the speed in tactical combat, not on the strategic map. That being said, I do prefer a speed of 1 over a speed of 0.
4) When playing a species with a smaller frigate hull, it can be worth not having a command module at all, just on the explorers.
5) There is no benefit to having more than one sensor module.
6) Depending on the map and species you're playing, you may need an exploration cruiser to cross long distances.

Fuel Tanker

A fuel tanker is very similar to an exploration ship. The fundamental difference is that they travel with combat ships to extend their range. This means they end up in combat regularly.

1) It's worth having 3-4 PD Lasers on the front of these to help keep them from getting taken out by missiles easily.
2) Depending on the hull, it may be worth putting one Artillery on the front to offer a little support early in the game. Later in the game it isn't worth bothering with.
3) There's no need for a sensor.
4) A little armor across the front or a shield generator is helpful, but on smaller frigate hulls there just isn't room. If the ship doesn't carry enough fuel, it can't do its job. While you can build more fuel tankers, those are also additional ships that need fuel.
5) A good fuel tanker frigate design is valuable because it can be one of the free CP frigates, but as the game progresses, a fuel tanker cruiser and fuel tanker battleship will be good designs to have. Remember that a cruiser or battleship will need a 3x3 command module.
6) I recommend trying to keep fuel tanker designs research neutral, so the same design can be used for every game.
6a) That being said, a fuel tanker with a thin strip of Solar Armor can avoid needing a power plant at all.

Beam Ships

The power consumption for beam weapons, such as the Ion Beam and the Fusion Beam, is deceptive. It only displays how much power is required to initiate the beam. Power is also drained continuously to sustain the beam, and this is not accounted for in the ship stats panel. I'm not even sure the developer realized it, since not a single default design armed with beam weapons has enough power to use them well. Even the Remnant ships use their beams very poorly.

When designing your own ships, the only way to really test is to go into the Battle Arena and pit your ship up against an enemy. Maybe make one that has weak firepower, but good shields. I usually just used the default Longclaw for testing. Select your ship and watch the power meter while it fires its beams. Initiating its beams uses a chunk of power, and then the power meter continues to go down until it's done firing. Ideally, you want to make sure the power bar never reaches the bottom during this process. If the power meter depletes, then the beams do not cause their maximum damage. Sometimes you can get very close to full optimization, but not quite. That can be acceptable, especially if you're using early power generation technology. If you're way off though, then it's better to reduce the number of beams. The other beams will do more damage as a result.

Battle Arena

The Scenario Editor in the Battle Arena can be very useful for testing designs. From the main menu, click on Battle Arena, then on Scenario Editor, and then on the Shipyard tab. From here, you can edit ship designs with every module in the game available. You can also test ships under the Deploy tab. Select your ship from the list and place it on the map. Then, select an enemy ship from the list, and hold down the Ctrl key when placing it to designate it as being on the opposing side.

There is no need to actually create a scenario.

Note that traits are not active in the Battle Arena. So Kulrathi ships will not have more hit points or weaker weapons. Chukk ships will not do more damage. Vulfar ships will not have fewer hit points. Etc. Just keep this in mind.

Design Showcases

In the following sections, I showcase a selection of designs.

As you create a large assortment of designs, it can be very helpful to have a naming scheme. I'll describe mine here as an example, but you can use whatever you want.

My naming scheme is as follows:
- Mk 1 versions always use nuclear power and non-fusion engines.
- In cases where I just tweaked a design that came with the game, the numerical 1 tells me it's my version, as opposed to the roman numeral "I" the game uses.
- Just plain "Mk 1" can use Steel Armor. If it uses Solar Armor, I use "Mk 1S" and if it uses Plasteel, I use "Mk 1P".
- If it has shields, I add "S1" for Shields Class 1, etc. or "SD" for Delta Shields.
- If it has Fusion power, it becomes Mk 2. Quantum power is Mk 3. Antimatter is Mk 4. Dark Matter is Mk 5.

For the weapons, I use:
- R for 1x1 Mini Rockets and 2x2 Rocket Turrets.
- M for 1x3 Spinal Rockets, since they're really missiles.
- P for Phoenix Cannons.
- Pla for Plasma Cannon turrets
- Ion for Ion Beam turrets.
- Fus for Fusion Beam turrets.
- MD for Mass Drivers.

Chukk Showcase

The game's least diplomatic gastropods have middle-of-the-road hull sizes. They have a +50% weapon damage bonus, giving them the highest firepower in the game. Their ability to really capitalize on this bonus is somewhat limited by their hull sizes, at least until they move to better power sources than nuclear. They also have the Cavernous trait, which allows them to have a higher population cap on all of their colonies. This can be very nice on ultra rich asteroids, among other things.

Out of all the species in the game, the Chukk have the most dramatic size difference between their battleship and titan, giving them a larger incentive to choose the titan hull.

Corvettes

There's nothing special about the Chukk Raider. The Chukk share the exact same hull layout with the Cordrazine and the Pollups. However of the three, the Chukk will benefit from their damage trait.

First up is a starting corvette using 1x1 rockets:
No armored modules for this one.

Next we can upgrade it with fusion power and fusion engines to make it harder to hit:
No armored modules for this one.

In order to do much more than that, we'll need to get the Phoenix Cannon from Krazy Eddie.

With Phoenix Cannons, it's much more powerful:
Both cannons have Overload and Speed Boost enabled. Note the change in orders.

Here's an upgrade with fusion power and Plasteel armor:
Now that there's more ammo, we'll switch both weapons to Overload and Rapid Fire.

Some weak shielding can be added with Quantum power and Delta Shields from Krazy Eddie:
Both cannons have Overload and Rapid Fire enabled.

Finally, with Antimatter, it can have Class 3 shields:
Both cannons have Overload only.

Frigates

The Chukk Scorpion is a much more interesting beast than their corvette.

The 2x2 rocket turrets are a vast improvement over the 1x1 rockets:
The turrets have Rapid Fire and Arc Extend. The 2x2 armor plate has Ablative and Reactive. The 2x2 Command is armored.

Here's a long range missile frigate. Remember, these missiles do 50% more damage for the Chukk:
The 1x3 missiles have Rapid Fire enabled. The 2x2 armor plate has Ablative and Reactive. The Basic Command, the engines, and the front three 1x1 ordnance are armored.

This upgrade replaces the 2x2 armor plate with a 2x2 shield generator:


Here's a Scorpion Ion/Fus frigate. The hull shape is not super conducive for it, requiring lots of 1x1 reactors instead of the more efficient 2x2 reactors, but it's still worth doing with the Chukk damage trait:
The beams have Rapid Fire and Arc Extend enabled. The 2x2 armor plate has Ablative and Reactive. The Basic Command is armored.


Now a Scorpion with Plasma Cannons:
The cannons have Rapid Fire and Arc Extend. The front 2x2 armor plate has Ablative and Reactive. The Basic Command is armored.


The Chukk Explorer is a perfect example of how bad some of the default explorer designs are. It has a 3x3 Command module and two Sensor Array modules. The ship isn't very big to begin with and now it doesn't have enough fuel to do its job. This is unacceptable.

So, on turn 1, I order the explorer I start with to be refit to this design:
This has 140 more fuel with no downside.

Cruisers

The Chukk Widow is a major workhorse for them. It's big enough to mount much more effective defenses, and it can carry a lot more weapons. It's also the first Chukk hull capable of carrying 3x3 weapons.

I don't normally use cruisers that specialize in rocket turrets, but I created this one to test out how effective it would be with the Chukk's 50% damage bonus (click on image to enlarge):

The rocket turrets have Rapid Fire and Arc Extend enabled. The 3x3 armor plate has Ablative and Reactive. The command, engine, and ordnance storage modules are all armored (the 1x1's too).

I found that the rockets do indeed cause a lot of damage, but the rockets are still very vulnerable to being destroyed by the AoE from Flak Cannons.


This is an starting tech laser design, designed to be superior to the 'Widow Mk I' design that comes with the game:

The 1x3 Laser Cannons all have Range Extend, Rapid Fire, and Speed Boost enabled. The 3x3 laser turret has everything: Overload, Rapid Fire, Arc Extend, and Range Extend. The front 3x3 armor plate has Ablative and Reactive. The command module and the two rear-most engines are armored.

The addition of either solar armor or fusion power allows some additional laser turrets:

In addition to the settings above, the 2x2 laser turrets on this design have Rapid Fire, Arc Extend, and Range Extend.

With both solar armor and fusion power, this thing starts really kicking:

Here the side 3x3 laser turrets have Rapid Fire, Arc Extend, and Range Extend, while the front 3x3 laser has all four. In addition, all four engines are now armored.


Plasma Cannons also work nicely:

All six Plasma Cannons have Rapid Fire and Arc Extend. The front 3x3 armor plate has Ablative and Reactive. The command module, all four engines, and all of the 1x1 ordnance storage modules are armored.

Adding solar armor allows the ship to move a bit faster, to get the reactors out of the sides, and to add a few more PD lasers:

On this one, the front turrets have Overload, Rapid Fire, and Arc Extend, while the side turrets only have Rapid Fire and Arc Extend. The 3x3 armor plate and the 2x2 armor plates have Ablative and Reactive. The command module, all of the 1x1 ordnance modules, and the two rear-most engines are armored.


Now for an Ion/Fus Beam cruiser. The amount of power required leaves the reactors rather vulnerable:

The side beams have Rapid Fire, Arc Extend, and Range Extend enabled. The front beams have Overload, Rapid Fire, and Range Extend (but not Arc Extend). The 3x3 armor plate has Ablative and Reactive. The command module is armored.

With solar armor, we can add a sixth beam:

Now the side beams have Rapid Fire, Arc Extend, and Range Extend enabled, but the front beams can have everything enabled.

And of course, with better power comes more resp- I mean... more options.


Here's something different. This is a cruiser loaded with NeuroToxin Bombs:

Kulrathi Showcase

Most Kulrathi hulls are about the third largest in the game, after the Opteris and Pollups. They get a very nice 50% bonus to the HP of armor and all modules. However, they have a 20% reduction in the damage of their ship weapons.

I haven't created many designs for the Kulrathi.

Corvettes

The Kulrathi have the largest corvettes in the game, although they tend to be slower as a result. Only the Kulrathi and the Opteris can mount 2x2 weapons on their corvettes.

A rocket turret corvette:
The rocket turrets have Arc Extend enabled.


Here's something different. I decided to try throwing mines on this puppy, and it's actually very effective!:
No module mods on this one.


Now for some Phoenix Cannon (acquired from Krazy Eddie) builds:
The cannons have Overload and Rapid Fire enabled.

Unlike smaller corvettes, the Kulrathi Razor can get a lot more out of fusion reactors. This upgrade adds fusion reactors, fusion engines, and Class 1 shields:
The cannons have Overload and Rapid Fire enabled. The Ordnance Storage modules are armored.

With antimatter reactors, it can upgrade to Class 3 shields:
The cannons have Overload and Rapid Fire enabled. The Ordnance Storage modules are armored.

With Dark Matter reactors, four Phoenix Cannons are doable with Class 3 shields:
The cannons have Overload and Rapid Fire enabled. The front Ordnance Storage modules are armored.

Frigates

For a missile frigate, I made an upgrade of the 'Longtalon Mk I':
All of the 1x3 missiles have Rapid Fire. The 1x1 and 2x2 Ordnance Storage modules are all armored, but nothing else is.

Next, here's a NeuroToxin Bomb frigate:
No module mods.

Cruisers

For a laser cruiser, I created a revision of the 'Strongclaw Mk I':

The 1x3 lasers have Range Extend and Rapid Fire. The 2x2 and 3x3 on the sides have Rapid Fire, Arc Extend, and Range Extend. The front 3x3 and 2x2 lasers have all four mods enabled. The two 2x2 armor plates on the front tips have Ablative and Reactive. The 2x2 armor plates on the sides only have Ablative. The command module and the 4x4 engine are armored.

Plasteel is a very nice upgrade for it.

Opteris Showcase

The Opteris have the largest ship hulls in the game. Their cybernetic trait also makes them unaffected by pollution, which helps them produce these large ships.

Corvettes

Right away we can see that they can fit 2x2 weapons on their corvettes. Therefore first of all, instead of 1x1 rockets, they can do this:
The turrets have Arc Extend enabled. Experiment with armoring some components, if you wish.

This means their humble corvette can also have Plasma Cannons:
These have Rapid Fire and Arc Extend. The front Ordnance Storage is armored.

Ion and Fusion Beams are an option as well, although not with a nuclear reactor, and they're not as good as on the frigate. Still, it's good to use those free corvette slots for something:
These have Rapid Fire, Arc Extend, and Range Extend.

Something fairly unique to the Opteris is a corvette with two nuclear bombs. It works because the Opteris don't suffer a penalty from pollution, so they don't have to worry about using nukes on planets they want to take over. Not a bad option if you would just rather not use corvettes in combat at all.


In addition, the Opteris can fit their corvette with more Phoenix Cannons than anyone, other than the Kulrathi:
All four have Overload enabled, but not Rapid Fire due to the limited ammo.

Upgrading to fusion power permits a large speed increase from fusion engines, and a valuable increase in ammo:
These now have Overload and Rapid Fire.

Quantum power allows the use of Class 1 Shields, and Antimatter allows the use of Class 3 Shields:
All three cannons have Overload and Rapid Fire, and the front Ordnance Storage is armored.

Lastly, the highest version can have four Phoenix Cannons with Class 3 Shields thanks to Dark Matter:
All four have Overload and Rapid Fire, and the front Ordnance Storage is armored.

Frigates

The Opteris Soldier frigate is large enough to carry more fuel than most cruisers. As such, it makes a superb explorer and fuel tanker. A fuel tanker can easily fit an Artillery cannon in the front, or even two.

As with the Opteris Bomber above, the Atomic Death rains tactical nuclear bombs. The 2x2 nukes are better at killing people, while the 3x3 nukes are better at destroying buildings. So in this case, the 2x2 nukes are preferred.
The front 3x3 armor plate has Ablative and Reactive enabled. The front two bombs are also armored. The hull color has also been changed to black.

The Soldier frigate is also very effective with Ion/Fusion beams. The stock designs don't provide them with nearly enough power, so these cause a lot more damage:
All four beams have Rapid Fire, Arc Extend, and Range Extend. All three 2x2 armor plates have Ablative and Reactive. The Basic Command and the Basic Engine are armored.

Here it is with fusion power and Plasteel Armor:
Fusion engines are an option, if available.

Cruisers

The Chitin cruiser is both large and extremely versatile. There's very little that this hull cannot do well.

A personal favorite of mine, I confess I took the basic idea for it from a YouTuber. The Beetle series is all about 3x3 Laser Cannons. Best if used in two or more, so they can cover each other. Their combat performance improves dramatically with levels. (click on image to enlarge):

The 3x3 lasers have Rapid Fire, Arc Extend, and Range Extend. The two 2x2 lasers have everything checked. The front 3x3 armor plate has Ablative and Reactive. The 2x2 armor plate in the middle section also has Ablative and Reactive. The Basic Command is armored.

Solar Armor increases the ship's capabilities:

In addition to the above settings, the lighter weight allows for armoring the engines. The 3x3 armor plate in the middle section has Ablative and Reactive.

Soon the ship can be upgraded with Class 1 Shields. Although it loses the 3x3 armor plating, the shield HP is equivalent.


From there you can certainly look at switching to better reactors, which will provide room to add a Targeting Computer or Quality Crew Quarters.

I found the mixture of technology requirements for the 'Droneship I' design that comes with the game too limiting (it was actually impossible in previous versions of the game). So, I created this design, which only requires Fighter technology to unlock:

All of the 2x2 lasers and the Vulcan Cannon have Rapid Fire, Arc Extend, and Range Extend. The 2x2 armor plates in front have Ablative and Reactive. The Basic Command, the 2x2 Ordnance Storage, and all of the engines, are armored.

Here I replace the lasers with fusion beams, as I found them quite effective against enemy fighters. You can also make an ion beam version, if you wish:

All four Fusion Beams have Rapid Fire, Arc Extend, and Range Extend. The 3x3 armor plates have Ablative and Reactive. The Basic Command, all four Fighter Bays, and all of the engines, are armored.

Now we come full circle, with essentially my version of the game's 'Droneship I':

This has the same module settings as the Drone Ship Fus Mk 1 above.

Since it fits so nicely, I had to create a design for it. Here is a Chitin cruiser with Subspace Artillery:

The Subspace Artillery has Speed Boost enabled. The front 2x2 lasers have Rapid Fire, Arc Extend, and Range Extend. The 3x3 armor plate has Ablative and Reactive. The Basic Command, 2x2 Ordnance Storage, and the 2x2 engines are armored. The 3x3 engine is not. The 2x2 nuclear in the rear section is also armored.

That reactor in the rear is a weakness, but the design requires it to provide enough power for the weapons. Upgrading to better reactors would eliminate it.

Battleships

Since battleship hulls are unlocked automatically when you get far enough in the tech tree now (they were a choice in earlier versions of the game), I decided it makes sense for the Opteris to use theirs for a fuel tanker. I won't show fuel tankers for all species, but I'll show these.

Since the battleship hull is further down the tech tree than Class 1 Shields, I don't have an unshielded version.

Here is my Class 1 Shield version:

The three Artillery have Arc Extend, Speed Boost, and Rapid Fire. The Basic Command is armored.

My Class 2 Shield version (Requires tech from Krazy Eddie):


My Class 3 Shield version:

Opteris Showcase (continued...)

The previous section ran out of room.

Titans

About the default 'Queen' design that comes with the game:
The basic layout isn't that bad, apart from it still using starting technology. Mostly I would enable various weapon modifiers, add some more ammo, and other small tweaks. The most important thing is to set it to default to facing broadside. Let it fire the Artillery cannons until it either runs out of ammo or the enemy gets too close, then manually switch to face forward to bring the lasers to bear.

Apart from that, some obvious upgrades would be to:
- Switch to Antimatter or Dark Matter power generators
- Add shields
- Drop it to one sensor module since having more than one does nothing
- Switch to better engines
- Switch to better armor
- Optionally strip the weapons from one side and fill it with ammo

The next step after that would be to create a new design from scratch.

Pollup Showcase

Most of the Pollup ships are quite large, probably second after the Opteris. However, they're wide ships, so they're harder to armor.

Only the Pollups can get Pollup Armor, via the Experimental research category. Personally, I find it rather underwhelming. The regeneration rate is too low to matter during combat, and it doesn't regenerate at all out of combat. On top of that, destroyed armor plates won't regenerate, meaning that it effectively only benefits 3x3 plates. It would make a lot of sense if it regenerated between turns on the strategic map. Compared to Steel Armor, it is better, but it loses soundly against Plasteel Armor.

Corvettes

The Pollup Thicket is a very generic corvette. It shares the exact same layout as the Chukk and the Cordrazine.

This is the same 1x1 rocket design I use with the Chukk:
No module mods on this one.

The Mk 2 design I listed for the Chukk works here too.


Now for a Phoenix Cannon design with fusion engines:
The weapons have Overload, Rapid Fire, and Arc Extend. The steel armor has Ablative.

I don't normally do this, but here is the same design with Plasteel Armor:
Now the armor has Ablative and Reactive. Effectively the plate has 1875 HP.


Here's a PD ship design. Have these fly around your own ships, rather than attacking:
No modules mods on this one.

With a fusion engine, it can have 2 PD lasers in every direction:
The 2x2 armor plate has Ablative and Reactive.

Frigates

The Fern frigate is ok-ish, but it's rather difficult to protect the front section.

The 1x3 spinal rockets all have Rapid Fire. Unfortunately, there isn't enough power to put Ablative or Reactive on the 2x2 armor plate. A version with solar armor or better generators should add those. The command module is armored. All of the 1x1 ordnance storage in front section, the two in the center section, and the outer one on each side, are armored.


Here's my best rocket turret design with the Fern hull so far:
All three rocket turrets have Rapid Fire and Arc Extend enabled. The front 2x2 armor plate has Ablative and Reactive. The command module is armored, as are the two outer 1x1 ordnance storage modules.


The plants love turnabout, by using NeuroToxin Bombs on animals:
No module mods on this one. This is one where I will switch to Pollup Armor.


Here's a Plasma Cannon Fern frigate. I originally had two Plasma Cannons in front, but I gave up on that:
The Plasma Cannons on the sides have Rapid Fire and Arc Extend enabled. The plasma in the front has Overload Rapid Fire, and Arc Extend. The 2x2 armor plate has Ablative and Reactive. The command module and the 2x2 engines are armored.


A Fern Ion/Fus frigate. It requires either solar armor or better generators:
The beams all have Rapid Fire, Arc Extend, and Range Extend enabled. The two outer 2x2 engines are armored.

Cruisers

First up for the Pollup Chrysalis, I have a 1x3 Spinal Missile spammer (click on the image for a larger version):

All of the 1x3 spinal missiles have Rapid Fire and Arc Extend. Four of the rearward 1x3 spinal missiles also have Overload. The 3x3 and 2x2 armor plates have Ablative and Reactive. The command module, all of the 2x2 ordnance, and all of the engines are armored.

Despite the sheer quantity of missiles, the Pollups don't have a damage bonus. Thornatus ships should be converted into a Black Rose (listed below), as soon as it becomes available.


The Black Rose has four Mass Drivers and four Artillery to try and take advantage of the width of the hull. However, there is an argument to be made for replacing two of the Artillery with 3x3 armor plates:

All four Mass Drivers have Rapid Fire enabled. The two inner Artillery have Speed Boost and Rapid Fire, while the two outer Artillery only have Speed Boost. The 2x2 armor plates have Ablative and Reactive. The command module, the 2x2 ordnance in the sides, the 1x1 ordnance in the front, and the middle engine, are armored. I also painted it black.

Adding Solar Armor provides much needed energy generation:

Now all four Artillery have Speed Boost and Rapid Fire.

With fusion power, but not fusion engines, Plasteel Armor makes sense:

The 3x3 armor plate in the center section does improve survivability quite a bit. Naturally, it has Ablative and Reactive.

However, more power is needed when using fusion engines:


The hull does not allow the Black Rose to ever use Subspace Artillery, but it can be upgraded with Dual Mass Drivers, when combined with better reactors.


Next, a plasma cruiser, which I called the Corona:

All of the turrets have Rapid Fire and Arc Extend. The 3x3 and 2x2 armor plates have Ablative and Reactive. The command module, all of the 1x1 ordnance modules, and all of the engines, are armored.

Terran Showcase

Corvettes

One common Terran Corvette design is this one:


However, I prefer to add a PD Laser:

A group of seven of these can protect themselves from most incoming missiles on approach.

Once shields are available, the design can be greatly improved like so:

Note the change in orders from Keep Moving to Hold Position.

Once acquired from Krazy Eddie, Phoenix Cannons can be used for a large increase in firepower:
However, it still pales compared with a frigate.

Frigates

Firing bursts of four, and with some limited homing capability, these "rocket" (they're really missiles...) turrets are far superior to the 1x1 rocket launchers. However, they can be shot down. Flak Cannons in particular can destroy them en masse using AoE.
The turrets have Rapid Fire and Arc Extend on. The 2x2 armor in front has Ablative and Reactive.

While not the most powerful beam frigate, a group of four of these can do serious damage. Replace the Ion Beams with Fusion Beams, if available.
The turrets have Rapid Fire and Arc Extend on.

Cruisers

Laser Rangers:
In both cases, the side turrets have Rapid Fire, Arc Extend, and Range Extend on. The front turret only has Rapid Fire and Range Extend on.

Missile Rangers:
Normally I would use Rapid Fire on the 1x3 missiles, but in this case, there isn't enough ammo for it. The front 2x2 Ordnance and the Basic Command are armored.

The Ticon class has Arc Extend on for the Cruise Missiles. The front laser turrets have Range Extend. The 2x2 Ordnance and the Basic Command are armored.

The Devastator 2 that comes with the game doesn't work, but these do. Plasma Rangers:
The side turrets have Rapid Fire and Arc Extend on. The front turrets have Overload, Rapid Fire, and Arc Extend. All three engines and the Basic Command are armored. The front 3x3 armor plate has Ablative and Reactive. As always, use Plasteel or Solar Armor in place of the Steel Armor as desired.

Vulfar Showcase

The Vulfar have very small ships, but they're actually not the smallest. The Cordrazine ships are smaller. However, the Vulfar also have a 20% reduction in HP to all armor and modules. Vulfar players will want to rush shields, both because their ships simply don't have room for armor, and to get around the 20% HP reduction.

Corvettes

I'm just going to say it: The Vulfar Type III corvette is pure garbage. As the smallest corvette in the game by large margin, it simply doesn't have enough room to be effective. Many Vulfar players simply don't use it. Using the neutral Reiter corvette instead is an option.

The most useful design I came up with is this PD corvette:
No module mods on this one.

Frigates

The Vulfar Type V frigate is larger than several other frigates, and is a worthy addition to any Vulfar fleet. It's biggest weakness is it's rather difficult to protect the front section, since if there are no weapons there, the game automatically turns the ship.

In the early game, I've made good use of this 2x2 rocket turret design:
The turrets have Rapid Fire and Arc Extend enabled. The foremost 1x1 armor plate has Reactive, but the one behind it does not. The command module, the four 1x1 ordnance storage in the front, and the one in the center section, are armored.


Here's a spinal missile design:
The 1x3 spinal missiles have Rapid Fire enabled. The 2x2 armor plates have Reactive. The command module, the 2x2 ordnance storage, and the foremost 1x1 ordnance storage are armored.

Here it is upgraded with fusion and shields:
Again the 1x3 spinal missiles have Rapid Fire enabled. Feel free to experiment with adding Overload, but there isn't enough ammo to do that for my taste. Giving two of them Overload and two of them not is an option as well. The two foremost 1x1 ordnance storage in the center section are armored.


Here's a Plasma Cannon design:
The turrets have Rapid Fire and Arc Extend enabled. The foremost center 1x1 armor plate has Reactive. The command module and the 2x2 engine are armored.


Despite only having two beams, an Ion/Fus design can still do work:
The beams have Rapid Fire and Arc Extend enabled. The foremost center 1x1 armor plate has Reactive. The 2x2 engine is armored. In hindsight, I'm not sure why I didn't armor the command module, since it doesn't reduce the speed any.

Now a shielded version:

Cruisers

The Vulfar Type VII cruiser is the smallest cruiser in the game. It's probably the main reason why many players assume that the Vulfar have the smallest hulls in the game in general. It's roughly one quarter of the size of an Opteris cruiser. A Ralyeh cruiser is nearly the same size, but the Ralyeh cruiser has the advantage of being able to utilize 3x3 modules in all sections. At least the edges are straight, allowing for efficient usage of the available space. It's actually very similar in capability to the Opteris frigate.

It's clear that the Dev intended the Vulfar to use greater numbers to compete. The fact that they're wolves is a clue. In order to field more cruisers, the Vulfar need to build more starbases than most other species, to get more command points.

After a while, I decided not to build any cruisers until after I research shields.

I liked the look of the 'Reckless' design that comes with the game, but having Overload on the side lasers prevents them from firing forwards, a critical error for a ship that doesn't broadside. It also doesn't generate enough power. I also needed a nuclear powered version. Here's what I came up with:

The 2x2 laser turrets have Rapid Fire, Arc Extend, and Range Extend enabled. The front 3x3 laser has all four enabled. The command module and the shield generator are armored. I moved the command module to the front to help protect the shield generator.

My fusion version. If you don't get fusion power, you'll have to either get quantum from Krazy Eddie, or wait for antimatter:

All the same settings.


Since I couldn't find a good way to put PD on the Reckless designs, I created this design to travel with them:

The side vulcans have Arc Extend and Range Extend. The front vulcan has Overload and Range Extend. The command module, the shield generator, and all four 2x2 ordnance storage modules are armored.


A Plasma Cannon design:

The cannons on the sides have Rapid Fire and Arc Extend enabled. The one on the front has Overload and Rapid Fire. The command module and the shield generator are armored.


A Mass Driver design:

The Mass Drivers have Rapid Fire enabled. The Artillery has Speed Boost and Rapid Fire. The command module, the shield generator, and the 2x2 ordnance storage modules are armored.


A Plasma Torpedo design:

The torpedoes have Rapid Fire enabled. The command module and the shield generator are armored.


The Vulfar cruiser is effective for beam weapons as well:

The beams on the sides have Rapid Fire, Arc Extend, and Range Extend enabled. The beam on the front has Overload, Rapid Fire, and Range Extend. The command module and the shield generator are armored.

Unfortunately, Fusion Power and Fusion Beams are mutually exclusive, unless you manage to trade for the one you don't research yourself:


With Fusion Beams and quantum power (from Krazy Eddie):

Here I took more power than necessary to make use of the shield boost ability. The next step would be to go to Class 2 or 3 shields.

Battleships

The Type X battleship is the first Vulfar hull capable of using more than one 3x3 weapon, and the first that can use one with point defenses. It's not particularly large and the arrangement of the sides isn't particularly efficient, but it's still a valuable addition to the Vulfar fleet.

The first thing that came to my mind when I started working with this hull was Subspace Artillery. It's the first Vulfar hull capable of mounting it. Granted, it doesn't make sense to still be using nuclear power. It needs alternate designs with antimatter, different armor, Class 3 shields, etc.:

The SSA has Arc Extend and Rapid Fire enabled. The 3x3 armor plate has Ablative and Reactive. The command module is armored.

Once the Vulfar unlock the battleship hull, they'll definitely be in need of a better fuel tanker:

The command module is armored.

Once Class 3 shields have been researched, the Type X Fuel Tanker just needs one 2x2 antimatter reactor, the shield generators replaced, and the three 1x1 antimatter generators changed to fuel storage.

Vulfar Showcase (continued...)

Titans

The Vulfar Type VIII (Type 13) is a good size. It's not larger than the Opteris or Pollups titan, but it's larger than several other species. Given the Vulfar's general lack of hull size, they have a larger incentive to choose to unlock Titan technology.

After looking at the starting 'Type 13' design that comes with the game, I said "nope" and changed it to this:

All of the 1x3 laser cannons have Rapid Fire and Range Extend enabled. The 3x3 laser turrets on the sides have Rapid Fire, Arc Extend, and Range Extend. The 3x3 laser turrets in the front have Rapid Fire and Range Extend. The 3x3 and 2x2 armor plates on the front have Ablative and Reactive. The command module is armored.

Of course, it makes no sense to build a titan with starting technology, so I modified it like so:

The side 3x3 laser turrets have Rapid Fire, Arc Extend, and Range Extend. The front 3x3 laser turrets have all four enabled. The 1x3 laser cannons have Range Extend and Rapid Fire. The front 2x2 armor plate has Ablative and Reactive. The CIC command module is armored.

The CIC (Combat Information Center) reduces the CP cost by an additional point over the regular 3x3 command module. It also provides bonuses to all friendly ships in the battle. IMO that makes it particularly valuable to a fleet with a large number of smaller ships, such as the Vulfar's.

Neutral Showcase

The Shipyards Content Pack DLC added an assortment of neutral hulls, or hulls that are available regardless of what species you play as. In addition, each of these hulls has a passive effect. Some are more useful than others. More importantly, these provide some larger hulls to the species whose own hulls are quite small.

On the other hand, it doesn't seem like the AI players are able to make use of these hulls, so if you're a purist, you'll have to decide how much you want to make use of them.

These hulls are affected by the weapon damage traits and HP traits of the species the player is playing as, so the effectiveness of any given design here will vary accordingly.

Corvettes

There is only one neutral corvette hull, called the Reiter. It's special ability isn't too exciting, but what is quite interesting is that it's the only corvette in the game capable of equipping 1x3 weapons.

A design based on the Red Reiter design that comes with the game, except I actually painted mine red. This one is available using starting technology:
Note the 1x3 lasers have the Overload and Rapid Fire mods enabled.
In testing I found this design wholly superior to any unshielded 1x1 rocket design.

Be sure to upgrade the armor to Plasteel or Solar Armor, when available.

Adding shields requires something better than nuclear power. This one uses fusion:
It's basically the Red Reiter that comes with the game, with the front 1x3 laser replaced by two PD lasers and an armor plate. Unlike the default Red Reiter, this one has the Overload and Rapid Fire mods enabled.

The ability to use 1x3 weapons also allows a design like this:
However, I find the Red Reiter above far superior.

Here is a shielded 1x1 rocket design, which I kept even though I deleted the unshielded version:


If you acquire the Phoenix Cannon from Krazy Eddie, then you will be able to build this design:
The Phoenix Cannons have the Overload and Rapid Fire mods enabled.

Frigates

The Buccaneer is a godsend for species whose own frigate is very small, especially the Ralyeh and Cordrazine, as they can use it to create an exploration ship. Otherwise they would have to explore using a cruiser hull. It also makes a good tanker, and in that role its heavy fighters can help out a little in battles.

Here's a 1x3 Spinal Missile design:


The Defiant is effective for its cost, even if it is a one trick pony:


and here I added shields:


The Hammerhead is similar to the Defiant, but the bonus applies to the 3x3 laser instead. Note that although the front looks perfect for a 3x3 laser, doing so leaves it pretty defenseless. Replacing the front 3x3 laser with a 3x3 armor plate is probably a better idea.


Here's my Naginata design, first without shields, and then with. In testing, I was not impressed with a nuclear powered design unless it was supplemented with solar armor, so I don't have a plain Mk 1 version.



I created this design to make the most of the hull ability not just for PD, but also in combat. The vulcans really chew through enemies in the early game. I would say it turned out really fun, but it's expensive for what it is. I also don't really see a good way to add shields.


Here I have a Harrington hull armed with Cruise Missiles, and another armed with Plasma Torpedoes. It's not cheap, but it's very effective. I also have a version with Swarm Missiles and Vertical Launch Missiles, but I don't show those here because they're just slight modifications of the Quiller. The Swarm Missiles do require a lot more ammo.



The Thunder looks really good. I just haven't made a design for it.

The Bismarck sounds good, but the fact that you can't research both Titan hulls and Quantanium armor limits it. That's not to say it's not still interesting with something like Ionium or Zentronium armor, but it's something to keep in mind. The Kulrathi HP bonus does stack with this hull's ability.

Backup Your Designs

StarDrive 2 does not save your ship designs on the Steam server. If you do a lot of work on your designs, you'll want to create a backup of your own.

The game saves your custom ship designs under:
AppData\LocalLow\Zero Sum Games\StarDrive 2\Designs

You can just backup everything in there if you're lazy, or you can create separate sub-folders like I did. One has a copy of the default designs in case I need to restore one, or if I just need to make sure a design isn't one of mine. The second sub-folder has a copy of my designs, and that's the folder I backup. The main reason for this is if you accidentally edit one of the default designs, you can never get it back if you include the change in your backup.

For the safest backup, burn a CD, but if you don't have a CD burner, then you'll have to use an external hard drive or a USB stick. USB sticks definitely start to fail after more than a couple of years though.

[thaodahaka]

Since I wanted to find a way to beat the game on the hardest possible difficulty, I chose the Titan Quest pick at the beginning, so all I could make are Titans, then I built my whole strategy around that. When you do research Titans though, instead of using the race specific Titans, try use the 2nd last one at the very bottom, Citadel I think, it has much more space than any of the race Titans, therefore much more firepower and shields. It's supposed to cost 15% more than a usual Titan, but in practice it seems to cost a similar amount of production.

[Trifler]

@thaodahaka
You can do that. I might have gotten too used to having to pay high maintenance for shields from SD1. The armor has saved my ships many times when the shields went down, but if I put in dozens of 1x1 shield generators in place of the armor, I might be able to train myself to retreat before the shields fell. Since the shields are per arc though, I only see a few designs that would benefit, but it's a valid point.

As for Titans, I agree completely, but this isn't a guide about showing the end-all, be-all. It's about showing early designs and a progression to give people ideas to design their own. As such, I don't even include Titan designs here, apart from the one Vulfar example. I'll take a look at yours though. I can always use more ideas. :)

[thaodahaka]

Don't really get the idea of putting armour on any ship that has shields. Save the space, take out the armour and put shields in those same slots, then you'll have at least double times the protection because nothing can penetrate shields till late technology weapons. Anyways, some interesting idea's here. Please feel free to have a look at my guide to beat Brutal X 4. I found that for the same price as a bunch of easily destroyed smaller ships, you get a Titan which doesn't get destroyed. The game designer has basically got a linear progression of ship strength to production, when actually a single Titan can field far more weapons and shields etc than it's smaller equivalents. Essentially Titans are much better value for money.

[Trifler]

@Zeash
There have been bug fixes, but no changes that would affect this guide that I'm aware of. If you've found one, please let me know.

[Zeash]

since development has been picked back up, i would love to see this guide updated in time.

[Trifler]

@MuSHr00mpiCKI3s
As I said in the guide, I deliberately made a nuclear version of pretty much everything to have a tech choice neutral version for people to look at/work from. As for the ordnance, they're all based on my own experience in using them in battle. I know the Aegis Vulcan cruiser chews through all of its ammo and runs out. I have a version of the Quiller that uses Vertical Launch missiles instead and it needs double the ammo easily. If you're talking about the spinal missile cruisers then yeah, that varies a lot depending on how many you have. Some of the corvettes are that way just because one square wasn't enough, and two squares is more than enough. Also having a little redundancy on them lets them keep fighting.

[Vi]

Even on hard, you don't even have to build more than 2 cruisers to defend until you get Ion Engines and Fusion Reactors so alot of these designs are kind of redundant. Also you have way too much ordnance in some of them, you really don't need more than 60-80 seconds on Cruisers and below and no more than 140 seconds on Battleships and Titans. In big fights the smaller ships are just going to die before 60 seconds are up anyways and most battles last less than a minute anyway.

[Rider of Tang]

SPAM MASS DRIVERS