First Ship Purpose?

[Who am I?]

Hello! I would like to introduce myself and quickly say that this build will most likely take a while to make, but it will come. I have a general idea of the aesthetic design, however I can't decide on it's functionality, so I'd like for the community to decide:

Transport: The type of transport in mind is like a troop carrier. If this wins, the ship will include 2-3 smaller dropships and at least 10-20 drop pods, and have more than average shielding but little to no weaponry. Edit: The drop pods I planing making for this are either push-propelled one man tubes or small, armored cores with decent thrusters. Neither designs are supposed to return, though that doesn't mean they can't. This ship is designed specifically for boarding enemy ships/stations/planets, with the dropships for retreating or heavy deployment. Though, I do agree this would be more rp-used until npcs are more interactive.

Cargo: If cargo wins, then the ship will focus much more on the ability to escape and have heavier shielding and jump drives, however it will focus mainly on cargo, so no weapons. Edit: It will feature some defensive turrets, however, the pilot will only have a small missile system.

Exploration/Scouting: This design would focus heavily on power, and will feature a mediocre power-draining beam weapons system, but will have little shielding.

The small Frigate: This ship will focus heavily on weaponry, including turrets, and somewhat on shielding, however [Edit] it will not be able to use any stealth tactics, instead bolstering a decent scanning system.

Aesthetics: This ship will focus on thrusters for main purpose. The end. However, it will also focus heavily on logic to make the ship appear to have more liveliness on the inside, and maybe more than originally planned on the outside.

Multi-purpose: Just any old average ship, pretty much.

Thank you, and if you have any other ideas for a quick-ish ship build, please suggest them below!

 

[NeonSturm]

I voted Aesthetics because it's the only appropriate option aside transports.

1. Transport: Gravity launchers (and pickups), teleporters and lack of NPCs or MP-ships (timezones) make this option unattractive for me.
2. Cargo: No anti-missile turrets? No overdrive miniguns with push or emp?
3. Exploration/Scouting: Scouts should avoid combat, exploration may need a little self-defence, especially overdrive weapons and ion-effect shielding to synergize with power. I don't want to die to every space-mosquito
   
4. Frigate: With all these guns why do you not use a little bit of that power for jump, if needed?

 

[jayman38]

I voted frigate so you can stay alive long enough to build something else.

 

[JinM]

Well are you new to Starmade? Do you know how to build a salvager? Do you play survival? Do you know that the home station is invulnerable to pirates if you configure it in the faction block?

 

[Dr. Whammy]

Why limit yourself? You can have it all. Go with a small multi-purpose...

Sometimes, you need to scout an area without risking something big and expensive. Then you you find a planet/asteroid cluster you want to mine so you need your mining gear. Later on, you need to haul your materials to a new sector to set up a base or do a trade run. Eventually, some NPCs show up and attack so you need to teach them to to either back off or get knocked off. Or a player fires a volley of swarmers at you and you actually want to live long enough to escape. Most importantly, you want to look cool doing it.

 

[DexterousGecko]

Why limit yourself? You can have it all. Go with a small multi-purpose...

Sometimes, you need to scout an area without risking something big and expensive. Then you you find a planet/asteroid cluster you want to mine so you need your mining gear. Later on, you need to haul your materials to a new sector to set up a base or do a trade run. Eventually, some NPCs show up and attack so you need to teach them to to either back off or get knocked off. Or a player fires a volley of swarmers at you and you actually want to live long enough to escape. Most importantly, you want to look cool doing it.
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Is that a modular ship? I've been wondering if something like that is possible. Say, I have a shell and I can pick up either a Salvage module or a weapons module, or storage, etc. I would love that!

 

[Dr. Whammy]

Yup... 100% Modular. Half my fleet is designed that way.

My old Odyssey class is a basic scout that straps a logic-controlled utility module on its belly; usually a salvager.



Later, I decided that one module type isn't enough so I made the Pathfinder class ship; which has 3 modules. Early models had a salvager controlled by logic and 2 "mobile warehouse" cargo modules; all of which were detachable.



As an intermediate, I built the Voyager class light combat utility craft. Tougher than an odyssey but more maneuverable than a Pathfinder and carries 2 modules; a salvager and a cargo pod.



The more I played on multi-player the more I realized I needed more firepower so I gave the Pathfinder a major combat refit. One particular version included a detachable 100 round rapid fire logic-driven torpedo launcher. The launcher's dimensions are identical to the salvager and cargo module.


Future plans include a repair beam array, a shield supplier, a mini power generator, a troop carrier pod (for my tanks/powered armors), and a mobile hospital. You're only limited by your imagination and your understanding of rails and logic systems.

You know what to do next...

 

[Lukwan]

Exploration/scout because it's all about location, location... location. = ]

 

[EricBlank]

A small multi-purpose vessel is a happy medium and ideal when you don't have a specific role that needs filled, or if you just don't have any other ship designs to use at the moment. Using a modular design like Dr. Whammy, or everything built-in, doesn't matter.

 

[StormWing0]

Usually a make my miner fleet first, than my combat fleet, than general purpose fleet.

 

[Madman198237]

If you're on SP, you should definitely start with a mining vessel. MP? Maybe an exploration/mining combo. Grab some good rocks while you go find a base.