Failure. going to start again from scratch.
Go for power, then figure out how to get more power. Learn
how power systems work, then make them work for you. Ignore anything you see about how to get maximum power out of small square spaces. You want to use the whole space of your ship for power, long lines of power extending through all three axes of your ship. Be careful to keep each line extending as far as possible in all three directions, 'without' connecting to any other power line. (You can split a power line so it can go in multiple directions, but never merge them with other lines. Every power block you place should expand the XYZ dimensions of your power line by one.) Have several such power lines. Don't forget capacitors too. Once you have the maximum power you can muster, figure out your weapon's strategy to make optimum use of that power.
If you are going for instance with missiles with a fifteen second recharge rate, you want them to use all the spare generating capacity you've got for the fifteen seconds they are recycling. That also means you need sufficient batteries to store all that power so it will be available when your weapons recycle.
After you've figured out your power, the configuration you will use to maximally generate that power, and how you intend to place your weapons, figure out how much space you have available for shields and thrust, etc.. Figure out if you can't add still more. Once you think you have enough, figure out how to add even more. If there is any empty space in your ship that is not being used for something appropriate, fill it with more shields, regenerators and thrusters. Go for a one for one ratio of shields and regeneration blocks if you aren't sure. I actually emphasize regen.
After you've built the ship that way, see if you can't tweak it to add roleplay space a bit, add some hull and such to pretty it up. Maybe rearrange a few things to give you more options for that chrome. Try not to extend any unnecessary long thin bits too far as it will slow down your turn rate. The exception is if you have used such long thin bits as part of your power engineering and have multiple power lines running through it.
