My party is going to be getting their first ship this weekend, and I decided to do a pokemon situation where they'll have a few different ones to pick from. I decided to emulate the ol' warrior/thief/mage dynamic in ships, and went with the general theme of a warship built mostly for combat, a research vessel focusing on travel, sensors, and labs, and a smuggling vessel that I guess is a little between the two, and also with the fastest thrusters. I just want to make sure I haven't made any glaring design errors before I hand these to my PCs. Ships are all tier 3.
I wasn't sure how important it was to fill all the weapon slots (I did), or how important it was to increase AC at low tiers, since it seems like a huge part of it is based on the skill of the pilot (I gave the gunship +2).
Warship
Medium Transport
Speed: 6, Maneuverability: Average (+1 Piloting, Turn 2), Drift: 1
AC: 12 (Mk 2 Armor), TL: 11
HP: 70, DT: –, CT: 14
Shields: Basic Shields 40 (15)
Attacks (F): Heavy Laser Cannon (4d8 – 10), Tactical Nuclear Missile Launcher (5d8, Limited Fire 5, Irradiate (Low) – 10)
Attacks (A): Flak Thrower (3d4, Point +8)
Attacks (T): Linked Light Laser Cannon (2d8 – 10)
Power Core: Pulse Green (125/150), Thrusters: M6 Thrusters (50) Drift Engine: Signal Basic (75)
Systems: Mk 1 Trinode (10), Mk 1 Defenses (1), Budget Medium-Range Sensors
Expansion Bays: Medical Bay (4), Tech Workshop (3), Escape Pods (2), Cargo Bays x2
Crew: 1/6, Good quarters
Research Vessel
Medium Explorer
Speed: 8, Maneuverability: Good (Turn 1), Drift: 2
AC: 10, TL: 11
HP: 55, DT: –, CT: 11
Shields: Light Shields 60 (20)
Attacks (F): Gyrolaser (1d8, Broad Arc – 10)
Attacks (P): Gyrolaser (1d8, Broad Arc – 10)
Attacks (S): Gyrolaser (1d8, Broad Arc – 10)
Attacks (T): High Explosive Missile Launcher (4d8, Limited Fire 5 – 10)
Power Core: Pulse Red (154/175), Thrusters: M8 Thrusters (60), Drift Engine: Signal Booster (100)
Systems: Mk 2 Mononode (15), Budget Long-Range Sensors, Mk 1 Defenses (1)
Expansion Bays: Science Lab (2), Synthesis Bay (2), Life Boats (5), Cargo Bay
Crew: 1/6, Luxurious Quarters
Smuggler
Medium Explorer
Speed: 10, Maneuverability: Good (Pilot +1, Turn), Drift: 1
AC: 10, TL: 10
HP: 55, DT: –, CT: 11
Shields: Basic Shields 40 (15)
Attacks (F): Coilgun (4d4 – 10)
Attacks (P): Micromissile Battery (2d6, Array, Limited Fire 5 – 10)
Attacks (S): Micromissile Battery (2d6, Array, Limited Fire 5 – 10)
Attacks (T): Flak Thrower (3d4, Point +1 – 10)
Power Core: Pulse Red (150/175), Thrusters: M10 Thrusters (70) Drift Engine: Signal Basic (75)
Systems: Mk 2 Duonode (15), Advanced Medium-Range Sensors, Antipersonnel Weapon (Azumith Artillery Laser)
Expansion Bays: Smuggler Compartment DC 30 (6), Tech Workshop (3), Good Guest Quarters (1), Cargo Hold
Crew: 1/6, Good quarters
The warship is rules compliant. 2 BP and 25 PCU leftover, though the latter is clearly for the Drift Engine. If you wanted to squeeze a bit more out of it, you could use 1 BP to upgrade the computer to a Tetranode. As a warship, you might also consider adding an Anti-Personnel Weapon, since a tier 1 longarm would only be 1 BP. I might make more tweaks if I was designing it myself, but you've put it together tightly enough that it would require overhauling it more thoroughly.
The research vessel is rules compliant, though I'm afraid I don't have the same final PCU value that you do. I have 4 BP and 30 PCU leftover, while you report only spare 21 PCU. Either way, the leftover power plus the power freed up by the thrusters is less than the minimum 100 for the Drift Engine - something else will need to be shut down at the same time. Life Boats are also a choice I'm a little unsure of, since it can have 6 crew, but only evacuate 4. Pods would get the entire crew, though less luxuriously. Other than that, there's room for a couple minor tweaks. 4 BP is enough to get a Duonode instead, a single point of armor, or even basic sensors instead of budget. Only one of those, though.
The Smuggler is not legal. Array weapons use two mounts, and adding the two light weapon mounts needed to fit them puts you 3 over the BP limit for tier 3. Cutting those out, I see 9 BP and 45 PCU to work with. That's a fair bit of power to work with, and if you really want the arrays, you can probably find something to shave down a little. Alternatively, equip it a bit more conservatively in general and you'll be able to fit actual defenses.
There's some tweaking you could do in general, but outside the Smuggler being a bit too expensive, these seem workable.
Ah, hadn't noticed the array thing. I'll just switch those to gyrolasers.