Hi,
For shields, it doesn\'t matter where shield blocks are placed (only the total number of shield blocks); so they\'re a \"universal filler block\".
For power, I create \"XYZ frames\" (3 lines of blocks, one in each direction) around the hull until I get to about 1 million e/sec. Once that\'s done it doesn\'t matter much where you place power generator blocks; so power generators become another \"universal filler block\".
In general, I create the hull, docking area/s and any internal spaces (rooms, passages); then create the initial 1 million e/sec generators. Once that\'s done I do weapon systems and power storage. Next comes thrusters (which are more efficient when done using \"XYZ frames\" too).
After all that is done you can get a very good idea of how much power generation you actually need (e.g. a test flight using weapons and thrusters to determine how quickly you consume your power storage). It only takes some basic maths - e.g. if you have 100 million power storage and deplete it all in 10 seconds on your test flight, then you would\'ve generated 10 million power in those ten seconds and would\'ve consumed 110 million power in 10 seconds; which means that you mostly want 11 million e/second power generation (or 10 million more than the 1 million you\'ve already got; or about 400 thousand power generator blocks) if you want to be able to move and fire continuously. Of course often (for large ships) being able to move and fire continuously isn\'t acheivable and you need to sacrifice some power generators (and rely on power storage); but you should still have a very good idea of how much power you need to generate.
After all that, I use power generators and shield to fill in gaps between everything else. While filling in gaps, I keep an eye on the ship\'s stats and use either shield or power generators depending on what the ship needs most at the time.
