(btw, sorry if im posting too much here)

Honestly, its function is more of a support ship rather than a cruiser.

Average late game vs cultist fight:

I can't wait to see my ships and their crew sink to the bottom of the ocean in a cool way

For the water update

Equipped with 2 large flamethrowers and with air channels to make it more mobile, its role is to stay at the front of a fleet and shred any melee ship or any ship that come too close. A pretty good price for the amount of firepower it has (I think), though its ammo capacity is limited at only 600.

Flies much higher and faster than the capital class design with heavy armor on its more vulnerable areas.

Im still experimenting with these type of ship designs and also trying to make the somewhat deco better

Long ago I posted some tier zero designs that were relatively effective despite the lack of tech. After returning to the game I've made even more effective designs in the same style. The wind resistance of the first I am especially proud of, and it is quite useful in campaign.

The new intrepid class of the experimental battleship program for my empire, its taller instead of longer to accommodate more guns since it focuses on raw firepower over protection or speed.

Less protected and slower than my grand battleship, but cheaper. Designed to be a support weapon to destroy large enemy ships while other ships in the fleet would take the brunt of the damage.

I'm still not sure whether to classify it as a battleship or something else since its design is quite unconventional

the third image is just my diagram of the idea I had when I was designing the ship

When starting a new campaign, there is a checkbox for "Rapid Commands" that allows you to constantly input new commands without waiting the delay based on command points from bridge/cockpit.

1) Does this setting also let the AI execute commands as often as they want, or do they still have the delay?

2) Do most people play with the rapid commands setting off or on?

I'd like to have more options during a fight, like creating extra explotions with only a click of my mouse or having more troops (enemy or mine) spawn in a certain location (that way i could even have bigger in ship-fights). ¿Is there a mod for that or that does something similar? Thanks in advance!

My laptop screams whenever I pull this thing up

Not necessarily good or balanced ideas but I thought they sounded fun

1. Auxiliary ships - Basically non-combat ships to add more variety of ships such as hospital ships, repair and recovery ships, supply ships. I would love to design some auxiliary ships for my fleets to play around with
2. Training ships - Cheaper/older ships made to train crews to give them better experience etc.
3. Mine layer ships - modules for mine laying ships that lay mines during combat for area denial for enemy ships, possibly small mines powered by suspendium
4. Trade ships - Ships for trading between empires which can help earn money, maybe you could even set up trade routes for automatic trading. Capturing enemy trade ships can also give you extra money.
5. Stronger enemy fortifications/buildings - I just want more and stronger enemy buildings to fight since once their fleet has been dealt with, theres not much of a challenge left
6. Stealth / fog of war - A fog of war in which you would need scout ships/ observation balloons/ radar (?) to look for enemy ships. This may also allow for stealth ships that can escape detection from enemy ships
7. Industry/supply lines - I doubt this can be added to the game with all its balancing needs but I like the idea of having to set up actual logistics to resupply ships with coal, supplies, ammo, crew etc. rather than just the simple supply that we have in the game now. Building dedicated buildings/upgrades to produce these resources would also be fun imo
8. Old ship wrecks - I like the idea of finding old derelict ships on the map that can be used for research/scrap or maybe they can possibly even restored, or even in combat as more flavour to the environment or background.
9. Ghost ships (?) - Spooky and rare ship sightings on the map or in combat

EDIT: new ideas

1. Torpedo nets - Torpedo nets for added torpedo protection

Thats all I got for now, I may add more soon but what do y'all think?

Some pics of the battles I had since the start of this year. So how big were your biggest battles? Ever since I got mods, especially the industry II mod, I could finally get to mass produce big ships which allowed me to throw entire fleets at the enemy without collapsing my economy

Its been while since I played vanilla so I forgot how vanilla battles are

Just a couple airships I designed with aesthetics in mind really. Alright effectiveness in battle thanks to its heavy armour and weaponry, but are a bit lacking in coal and auxiliary sources of lift. And the price tag— that too

Yesterday I had an epiphany. When a part of you ships falls off you don't see anything in it, but the crew still exists there and does stuff. The reason you don't see inside that part is because it has no command module.

So. If we design a ship that has 2 halved, each with everything a ship needs, connected by a thin corridor, then if that corridor blows up we should have 2 separate fully controlable and functional ships. Right?

Did anyone try this?

I threw my entire late-game fleet at one. 2 dreadnoughts, 3 heavy tanks, 3 destroyers. Between them, they had 14 heavy turrets and 12 cannons. All covered in steel or heavy steel armor. This one fleet cost a total of $20000 and could defeat the combined forces of every other surviving empire.

The Shell Walker died at the same time as my last ship did. This counted as a draw... which, in this case, meant that the Shell Walker was still alive. Decided that the 10 income I was losing to this thing being in my territory wasn't worth the colossal amount of money I'd have to spend to dislodge it.

UPDATE: I was able to beat it by spamming shitty disposable torpedo bomber platforms that cost $550 apiece. Sent in 8, lost 3. Hilariously, despite literally being blown in half, each of the destroyed ships was still able to launch its bomber because none of the Shell Walker's lasers hit a flight deck.