Shipworks

**Shipworks** allow you to edit unlocked ships or even create them from scratch. Your custom designs can then be used during the Campaign by picking them on the Campaign launch screen. They will not appear during the game.

**Warning: this page may contain outdated information. It was last updated for game version 1.13.**

### Shipworks

Accessible out of game, Shipworks allows you to create or edit existing ships and then test them in combat against the AI. You can pick enemy ship size(s) as well as the difficulty scale which seems to multiply the price of your design and "buy" as many enemy ships as possible with it.

### Shipworks

Shipworks function similarly to the out-of-game Shipworks but there are several key differences:

* While removing parts from your ships is free and instantaneous, repairing or adding parts costs time and money. The game treats both "repairing" and "adding parts" the same so you benefit from repair dock speed bonus even when doing the latter. You only pay for the parts, not for the job.
* Only one ship can be repaired/modified at a time.
* You cannot disconnect a large chunk from a ship to move it somewhere else; the moment a part loses connection to the Bridge it is automatically moved into the inventory.
* What modules you have access to is limited by your inventory and the city's shop. If some modules on your ship get blown off you might not be able to replace them right away.
* You have no access to custom ships you created in the Shipworks so you have to remake them from scratch.

## Shipbuilding Methods

### Combat/Other

If you're making a combat ship focus it on combat only and don't try to give it any secondary roles. Secondary roles tend to be large(i.e. 400m3 fuel tanks), expensive(i.e. aircraft) or impossible to protect(i.e. Sensors) and you want your combat ship to be small(and therefore light and maneuverable), cheap and protected. The one possible exception to this are large ships like the Sevastopol - since they can't dodge any incoming fire anyway you can simply park them at the top of the screen during combat protecting most of its fragile/expensive/explosive modules this way. Of course this won't help you if you find yourself at the receiving end of an air or missile strike but these always require special methods to defeat.

Giving multiple roles to non-combat ships is usually more sensible. Skylark is the best example: a small fast tanker someone slapped IRST and ELINT on top of which turned out to be an excellent idea. Still, try to keep the price in check(over half of Skylark's price are the two sensors it carries!) and remember that some roles just don't mix, for example ships you don't want to ever be attacked and radars for example.

### Protection

If you are going to get shot at it's important to put some protection on your ship. There are generally two types of protection you can use: armor and reinforced hull.

Armor is very strong but also very heavy. Armor has damage reduction(based on subtraction not multiplication) which means it can take a lot of punishment and is all but immune to anything under 100mm caliber. As of 1.13 excessive armor can provoke enemies to use AP ammo which is almost certain death if not dodged.

Reinforced Hull has same durability as armor but is about eight times lighter. Unfortunately it has no damage reduction whatsoever which means it takes a lot more damage than armor and even the puny 2A37 will eventually chew through it. It also means splash damage will quickly "seep through" to whatever is behind it. An unusual feature of reinforced hull is the fact that if it's hit you get "bullet hole" effects on the screen which can obstruct your vision since it technically counts as hull.

There are building techniques to alleviate problems of both armor and reinforced hull. For example a 2x1 piece of armor weighs 100t while two armor triangles weigh only 46t while still protecting a 2x1 area(although two triangles will be more susceptible to splash damage) As for the reinforced hull the "seeping through" damage effect can be alleviated by spacing it away from your real hull(although this will make you a bigger target) And the sheer weight savings of reinforced hull cannot be underestimated - with much better weight to thrust ratio you should also be able to avoid a lot more enemy fire to begin with. Yet another idea is to create "composite armor" of interlacing 1x1 reinforced hull triangles with 1x1 armor triangles on top.

Another important aspect of protection is module positioning. In order from the most important o protect to least important:

* When your bridge goes so does your ship so never leave it exposed. Look at the Lightning as an example of what *not* to do.
* Ammunition explodes potentially taking more ammunition with it and therefore most of your ship with it if it's a combat ship.
* Fuel can catch fire(reducing your flight time) and explode(reducing your ship size) so same reasoning applies.
* Lack of power will slow down your gimbal engines, turret turn rate and ammo reload rate which makes Generators well worth protecting.
* There seems to be no effect to crew losses outside of penalty to Veterancy gain and even that is pretty minor.

### Elevation

While the game seems to be two-dimensional and for most purposes it is when building ships you can elevate some parts above others. The rules of elevation are as follows:

* Square 2x2 and 4x4 blocks elevate when you attach other blocks to all of their connection areas(highlighted in green) The elevation level will be equal to the elevation of lowest attached block +1.
* Non-square 2x2 blocks also elevate when you attach other blocks to all of their connection areas but the elevation level will be equal to the lowest attached block - they don't gain elevation, only transfer it.
* A gun(except for the A-220) or a gimbal(maneuvering) engine will elevate the block it's attached to if it has been already elevated at least once.

But why even bother with elevation?

* Elevating twice allows guns to fire over large fuel tanks which is important for large ships.(no longer possible)
* You can elevate thrust engines over other parts of the hull thus protecting them from being shot off.(no longer possible
* You can also elevate heat-seeking missiles, flares and the Palash-1.
* You **cannot** elevate the R-9 SPRINT even if the cone shows as yellow.
* You **cannot** fire missiles over gimbals(guns and maneuvering engines) even if the cone shows as yellow.
* You also cannot elevate tactical/strategic missiles(actually they seem to dump the elevation of the blocks they're in to 0 no matter what)

### Gimbal-Triangle Space Saving

Gimbal modules(guns, gimbal thrusters, landing gear) do not use the corners of the hull piece they're in. If you use two hull pieces with cut corners with gimbals and put these cut corners next to one another you can then put two 1x1 triangles in the empty space and put a 2x1 module in them.

### Extreme Weight Saving

Many 2x2 modules such as generators, ammo or gimbals can be put in a triangle piece which is half the weight of normal 2x2 block. Similarly many 2x1 modules can be put in two 1x1 triangle pieces which combined have half the weight of one 2x1 block. Two 2x1 blocks weigh less than one 2x2 block. Avoid using 4x4 blocks as much as possible as they are extremely heavy.

### Thrust

As of 1.13 the game seems to "cheat" when it comes to ship lift. While the Low Thrust warning follows laws of physics and will flash as long the Thrust/Weight ratio is below 1, in practice you can fly and gain altitude in any ship as long as its Thrust/Weight ratio is above 0.5.

When designing combat ships to comfortably avoid incoming fire or missiles it is recommended to keep the Thrust/Weight ratio of at least 3(not counting the agility bonus from Veterancy) - but remember that thrust engines can muddle this value as they will technically increase your mobility but will only work if you're dodging up. For example with four NK-25 engines and two D-30S thrust engines you want the thrust to weight ratio to be above at least 4.5 instead.