I know there's an improvement that lets you view ships' modules if they're in your system, but that's no help. Do I just build balanced ships? Is there a good way to guess based on race or resources?



Thanks

I'm wondering the same thing. Military - ship designs and especially battle actions - are a huge difficulty for me right now because it seems random to me. I really hope there is a deterministic mechanic but I don't know it yet.



I usually balance all types of offense weapons for my main ships, whereas I add an invasion module for each supporting ship. This gives me the opportunity to win battles as well as invade planets for one turn if I start an invasion. I don't know what's the benefit for most modules and I'd really like to read more about it but I cannot find any specific info that can be relied on.

I install mostly flak on my ships, as flak is ineffective and missiles are dangerous so you need allot. I install just a little more deflectors than shields, since kinetics, at least I think, have a higher critical hit chance.



Always use Armor. Armor will allow you to withstand any weapon strategy as long as you at least have balanced defenses.