I had a player demonstrate to me how to “game” Starmada and take advantage of the rules. I don't have the ship displays of what he used but it took advantage of the towing ( E8 ) rules to bring more SU (and attendant goodies) than an equivalent ComRat that I had designed. Basically he crammed all of his engines into a smaller sized hull that then towed a larger, weapons laden hull. The designs below are a pale reflection of what happened to me.
Sled Dog Class Tug of the Munchkin Star Marine ( 11 )
Mass: 10 KmT, Crew: 45, TL: E:0 W:0 S:0 Q:0
Hull: 1
Engines: 30 29 28 27 26 25 24 23 22 21 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Shields: 0
Armor Plating, Hyperdrive [O], Electronic Warfare System [O]
1[H9E], 2[10E], 3[H9E], 4[10E], 5[H9E], 6[10E]
Starmada Imperial Stars Edition v1.76
Slug Class Battle Pod of the Munchkin Star Marine ( 40 )
Mass: 21.6 KmT, Crew: 78, TL: E:0 W:0 S:0 Q:0
Hull: 2 1
Engines: 0
Shields: 0
[α] Big Gun [5/10/15, 3+ 1/1/1, Extra Hull Damage, Doubled Range Modifiers]
ABC, ABD
Armor Plating, Electronic Warfare System [O]
1[H], 2[Q], 3[H], 4[α], 5[H], 6[α]
Starmada Imperial Stars Edition v1.76
With the Sled Dog towing the Slug above you get a good match for the Common class Frigate below. The above combo can move at speed 10 and is better armed but more susceptible to damage.
Common Class Frigate of the Sansfromage Navy ( 54 )
Mass: 34 KmT, Crew: 114, TL: E:0 W:0 S:0 Q:0
Hull: 3 2 1
Engines: 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Shields: 0
[α] Not-quite Big Gun [5/10/15, 3+ 1/1/2, Doubled Range Modifiers]
ABC, ABD
Armor Plating, Electronic Warfare System [O], Hyperdrive [O]
1[HEα], 2[2Eα], 3[HE], 4[2E], 5[HQ], 6[EQ]
Starmada Imperial Stars Edition v1.76
Note: My opponent used PDS as shields would not be cost effective used on ships this way. Next time I see something like this, I'll slam the little guy and leave his gun sled drifting in space.