Newbie Question about custom ships

Your ships should remain from game to game so long as you use the same hull style, and have the appropriate technologies--including any miniturization needed to make the design legal.

I have had mixed success with saved ships. Some show up at the
appropriate time. Some never show up. Even though I create
the same type of ship over and over. Such as fast troop ships.

I like to save my ships that I use a lot with "AA..." so that
it shows up at the top of the ship list.

Another thing you can do is to save a blank ship design without any componants, and whenever you make the hull a functional ship, give it a different name so that the blank hull is still retained. That way, you don't have to worry about designing the ships over again, but just placing engines, weapons, modules, and/or defences.

The problem I have is that I always just keep re-upgrading the same ship so by the end, my "Invader" troop ship has top end engines and components which means in my next game I need to recreate it with low end components to again upgrade as I go.

I've thought about doing the blank template thing, but TBH I guess I don't really care that much about how it looks.

One thing I overlooked myself is the "strip functional components on upgrade" option in the setup. Once I realized it was there, I find myself toggling it quite a bit. It *is* handy. The option is the last one on the "Interface" page.

I found I don't really benefit by saving my ships from game to game. I flush the files in the "My Games\...\Ships" directories prior to every new game. Of course, I'm using stock hulls with very little or no jewelry. I suppose if you're using fancy designs, you wouldn't want to do that.

There is a miniaturization bug that may be keeping ships from showing up in new games. That's supposed to be fixed in the 1.3 update. I usually don't have a problem until I conquer a planet with a Hyperion Shrinker. When I end up with two, I actually lose space and my current design becomes invalid (that's a nasty one). Others say the last two miniaturization techs also cause that problem, but I haven't encountered it myself.

I always just use designations to mark the components, say G-0 would be the design , G-1 the first component filled model , G-2 And so on. Then next game each is available at the right tech level.

Another thing you can do is to save a blank ship design without any componants, and whenever you make the hull a functional ship, give it a different name so that the blank hull is still retained. That way, you don't have to worry about designing the ships over again, but just placing engines, weapons, modules, and/or defences.

Great idea, Program!

I always just use designations to mark the components, say G-0 would be the design , G-1 the first component filled model , G-2 And so on. Then next game each is available at the right tech level.

Another good idea, DethAdder. I think I'll do that, maybe Star Trek style! (NCC-1701-?, etc.)

By the way, I think I know what may have happened. The first game was unpatched.

I just remake my ship design lines from game to game. My needs change every game, as does the order that I research technology. Plus, it's good for role-playing purposes; with each game start, I like to play my civilizations from the ground up, so having new ship designs every time helps reinforce the idea that they're making it anew.