to me it looks like a strike frigate. maybe a light assault cruiser. something made to chew up smaller ships and avoid their bigger brother's heavier weaponry. ideal for your freedom fighter types, privateers and pirates.
i designate things as light or strike based on size and role. smaller ships are usually used for hit and fade attacks. anything smaller than a frigate usually has a fighter-like aesthetic and this looks far more capital class.
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You could build a personal scale by counting the amount of interior rooms it has.
Fighter-cockpit
Bomber-1 room
Corvette-2+ rooms
Frigate-3+ rooms
Cruiser-4+
Destroyer-5+
Battleship-6+
Once crews come in, my guess is the number of guys you need will be the new classifications.
i use something similar
fighters have a cockpit, maybe a 3x3x3 area that all the controls and some sort of seat exist in but no much room if any.
i include light and fast bombers as fighters. they are meant to draw fire and take down other small craft and even a corvette if attacking as a group.
corvettes have a flight deck you can walk around, a crew or more than 2 and is usually armored and shielded well enough to handle turret fire while dropping its payload. mines, average sized torpedos and all sorts of cannons, beams and missiles make a corvette a multirole capable free-flying turret.
entry level cruisers (or frigates) are just bigger ships fitted with some guns and armor. usually just some converted civvie ship that used to haul cargo or ferry passengers. usually with large flight decks or a bridge, they have a lot of internal space and might even be considered luxurious by military standards. chairs and full sized bunks? i think i'm in love. tho it's fast enough to avoid the big guns it has to watch out for nasty little pests like drones, fighters and lighter corvettes that can dodge turret fire and have enough firepower to lower the frigate's shields. altho minor irritants to bigger ships they could possibly remove something this small from battle outright.
i'd classify the OP's ship as a strike frigate since it is smaller and appears capable of chasing down and arresting those smaller pests. too big to be an anti-fighter corvette but too small to be a proper cruiser.
mid-level cruisers are proper warmachines. battleships, destroyers, your small to typical carriers, and other combat craft fit right in this niche. they have a lot of internal space and a proper combat style bridge. they can become very cramped and claustrophobic as new or updated systems get added. combat wise; some can take a bad hit but lack in offense. others are glass cannons. you don't send ships like this or any smaller without escort. even the heavily armored versions would be too squishy if they met anything with heavy cannons or siege turrets. they work best as members or a larger task force.
heavy assault cruisers are made of the same stuff as your nightmares. big guns, big turrets, with holds filled with smaller craft and other unpleasant surprises. these monoliths of pure ionized death carve anything smaller to shreds with turret fire alone and then crack open stations like a cheap soup can. imagine a ginsu knife chopping boiled fruit mid air. typical designations in this class would be dreadnoughts, super carriers, mobile bases, and elder gods. you might confuse the bridge for a day spa if not for all the displays and chairs. they usually have a lot of leftover space. at this size it's tempting to fill the emptiness with internal details and heavier systems. both options have diminishing returns. internals are a severe time sink. added more systems make the ship even more sluggish with no real benefit. you could add a mall inside and still have enough room for a city. as endearing as that may be these ships will ruin your ALL THE TIME if you're on the wrong end of the cannons.
well that got long.. my bad?
hope it was as good for you as it was for me :3
