This is the last of four introductory threads on SuperNova. If you've managed your first three turns, you're ready to expand your empire. To do that, you need ships (this post) and colonies (next post).
Designing New Ships
A spreadsheet can help calculate the tonnage (you need at 25K+) and components - see the third post of How to Organize It All - but it isn't essential.
Here are basic ship designs you may find useful in the early game.
Local Colonizer
1 Mk I Nuclear Engine
100 Colonial Berthing
50,000 Cargo Bay
100 Berthings takes more steel than you may have in the first turns, so some players make a initial ship half this size. Some have larger Cargo Bays and some have even smaller ones if they also make a separate 'delivery' ship (with big bays and no berthings) to shuttle materials.
Galaxy Colonizer
1 Mk I Nuclear Engine
100 Colonial Berthing
100,000 Cargo Bay
1 Fuel Shuttle
10,000 Fuel Tankage
1 Mk I Nuclear Jump Drive
1 Mk I Jump Survey Sensor
1 Mk I Computer System
1 Mk I Short Range Sensor
The last component isn't strictly necessary, and again, you can vary the Berthing and Cargo Bay size, but this is a good starting point.
Explorer
1 Mk I Nuclear Engine
25,000 Cargo Bay
1 Drone Rack
1 Fighter Bay
1 Fuel Shuttle
10,000 Fuel Tankage
1 Mk I Nuclear Jump Drive
1 Mk I Jump Survey Sensor
1 Mk I Computer System
10 Mk I Medium Range Sensor (which you can research)
5 Survey Lander
3 Type B Science Lab (Type A is fine until you research this)
Give this ship an XEXPL order ('Explore,' and 'X' for repeat every turn') and move it every other turn to a new planet to discover new items and technology. The Fighter Bay and Drone Rack are there to hold any such ships you discover, just as the Cargo Bays hold other tech (and provide the missing feature that makes Pathfinders unsuitable for EXPL, since they have no holding area). Do additional sensors, landers, and labs help with discovery? Who knows?
A variation of this, with no Bays or Racks and more sensors, can be used to 'unlock' Warp Points. Note that you have a bonus when surveying the Warp Points going directly back to your home system, so even your starting Pathfinders can survey a 'D' WP adjacent to home.
And a variation of that without landers makes a good patrol ship, using an XSENS order to scan for incoming ships at a given WP. Whether or not you want to arm it is up to you. See Preparing for Combat, below.
All of these use a single Mk I Nuclear Engine, which is all you'll need until your production is so developed that you can stack hundreds of engines onto a ship for 2 or more Action Points.
Refueling Station
50,000 Fuel Tankage
A Planetary installation, unlike the other Spaceships listed above. Give it the orders
XLC Load Cargo (every turn) Fuel 50000
SUPP Resupply Duty
and it will refill itself then top off the tanks of any of your ships at your homeworld, including new ones just coming off the production line - thus saving you an order every time you make a new jump-capable ship.
To build a ship, use the SHIP order, or XSHIP if you want it built each turn. Consider adding one or two Shipyard Slips: you start with one, and each turn, you may build only as many boats as you have Slips. Also, if you build big ships, you may want to add Shipyards, which govern how much total ship-building you can do per turn.
To add any ship to your production queue, you must already have the components built the turn before. If you order more ships than you have Slips, they get added to to the Shipyard Queue and will get made in turn.
You can remove unwanted ships from your queue (like additional Pathfinders that you may not want for awhile) with the SCRP Scrap Ship order.
Designing New Ships
A spreadsheet can help calculate the tonnage (you need at 25K+) and components - see the third post of How to Organize It All - but it isn't essential.
Here are basic ship designs you may find useful in the early game.
Local Colonizer
1 Mk I Nuclear Engine
100 Colonial Berthing
50,000 Cargo Bay
100 Berthings takes more steel than you may have in the first turns, so some players make a initial ship half this size. Some have larger Cargo Bays and some have even smaller ones if they also make a separate 'delivery' ship (with big bays and no berthings) to shuttle materials.
Galaxy Colonizer
1 Mk I Nuclear Engine
100 Colonial Berthing
100,000 Cargo Bay
1 Fuel Shuttle
10,000 Fuel Tankage
1 Mk I Nuclear Jump Drive
1 Mk I Jump Survey Sensor
1 Mk I Computer System
1 Mk I Short Range Sensor
The last component isn't strictly necessary, and again, you can vary the Berthing and Cargo Bay size, but this is a good starting point.
Explorer
1 Mk I Nuclear Engine
25,000 Cargo Bay
1 Drone Rack
1 Fighter Bay
1 Fuel Shuttle
10,000 Fuel Tankage
1 Mk I Nuclear Jump Drive
1 Mk I Jump Survey Sensor
1 Mk I Computer System
10 Mk I Medium Range Sensor (which you can research)
5 Survey Lander
3 Type B Science Lab (Type A is fine until you research this)
Give this ship an XEXPL order ('Explore,' and 'X' for repeat every turn') and move it every other turn to a new planet to discover new items and technology. The Fighter Bay and Drone Rack are there to hold any such ships you discover, just as the Cargo Bays hold other tech (and provide the missing feature that makes Pathfinders unsuitable for EXPL, since they have no holding area). Do additional sensors, landers, and labs help with discovery? Who knows?
A variation of this, with no Bays or Racks and more sensors, can be used to 'unlock' Warp Points. Note that you have a bonus when surveying the Warp Points going directly back to your home system, so even your starting Pathfinders can survey a 'D' WP adjacent to home.
And a variation of that without landers makes a good patrol ship, using an XSENS order to scan for incoming ships at a given WP. Whether or not you want to arm it is up to you. See Preparing for Combat, below.
All of these use a single Mk I Nuclear Engine, which is all you'll need until your production is so developed that you can stack hundreds of engines onto a ship for 2 or more Action Points.
Refueling Station
50,000 Fuel Tankage
A Planetary installation, unlike the other Spaceships listed above. Give it the orders
XLC Load Cargo (every turn) Fuel 50000
SUPP Resupply Duty
and it will refill itself then top off the tanks of any of your ships at your homeworld, including new ones just coming off the production line - thus saving you an order every time you make a new jump-capable ship.
To build a ship, use the SHIP order, or XSHIP if you want it built each turn. Consider adding one or two Shipyard Slips: you start with one, and each turn, you may build only as many boats as you have Slips. Also, if you build big ships, you may want to add Shipyards, which govern how much total ship-building you can do per turn.
To add any ship to your production queue, you must already have the components built the turn before. If you order more ships than you have Slips, they get added to to the Shipyard Queue and will get made in turn.
You can remove unwanted ships from your queue (like additional Pathfinders that you may not want for awhile) with the SCRP Scrap Ship order.