I have released a new ship, the Caldari Cormorant. Here is the video and download link.
http://starmadedock.net/content/caldari-cormorant-standard-edition.3028/
The Cormorant was sort of a test. It is currently the smallest destroyer. I wanted to see how much stuff I could pack inside of it. I got plenty of interior and I am satisfied with it. I plan on possibly expanding a few areas as well. I also got a baseline for how much power the destroyer sized ships should have, which is a variable that cannot scale the same way it does in EVE.
I also fully stocked it with tons of "ammo" I measured how many weapons fit on my largest hybrid guns (caldari weapons) and then multiplied that block count to determine the number of blocks needed for a 100% effect bonus. I then placed the adequate amounts of piercing, punch through, explosive and ion effect blocks to give that 100% effect for any of the hybrid guns that you would normally attach.
On top of that I placed explosive warheads around the ammunition areas, which are located in the 4 side sections of the hull. This will simulate a large explosion if the ammunition is hit. I would like to add more of the effect blocks and more of the warheads.
Two recolored Caldari Navy Light Missile Launchers were placed on the hull. A Cormorant is capable of using one set of missiles and those are the only finished weapon systems that I have ATM. I will be updating them so that they are somewhere around 4-5 times more powerful. My missiles really suck now so they need it.
I will probably build fully functional turrets for the other turret designs and fill them as much as possible with weapon blocks, small as they may be. I will then fit them onto the ship in the future.
I think I will also be doing alternate releases of my ships, and only the standard edition ones. The idea is that I will increase weapons output by a factor of 10 or something. I will also increase shielding by a large amount and possibly halve stuff like scanners on these ships if I need room (mostly on frigates). It depends on how much space I have. It could also scale differently based on ship size.
I will attempt to connect the weapon output to a physical turret on the ship so that they are not firing straight through the hull. In the end I hope to achieve a ship that has awesome firepower, full ammo stocks and keep the interiors of the ships intact. This will only happen with standard edition ships, which is anything that has the default skin. I think it will work well.
I have yet to test the capabilities of a fully fit medium or large ship to see if I even need to go forward with this process. The turrets may be big enough that they may do good damage and will kill a ship quickly. I'm also not sure if it will be "fun" to have hardmounted turrets on anything larger than a destroyer because of the turning times. Could be pointless, despite the fact that they are meant to be less agile. It seems I have some testing to do.