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Ship Design

Design your own space ships

The ship design system is one of the strategic pillars that differentiates 5Dim from other space strategy games. Instead of using fixed models, you decide what each ship in your fleet looks like: its armament, its armor, its speed and its cargo capacity. Mastering design lets you create fleets optimized for each situation —attack, defense, exploration or transport— and gain an advantage over rivals who settle for generic configurations.

Ship types and their role

Each hull type has a different role in combat. Before designing, it is worth understanding what each one is for, because the chassis defines the limits of what you can mount on it.

Fighter Fighter Fast and cheap. Ideal in swarms and exploration.
Corvette Corvette Balanced. Good cost-to-power ratio.
Cruiser Cruiser Medium ship with high sustained damage.
Battleship Battleship Maximum armor and firepower.
Titan Titan Elite ship. The most powerful unit in the game.
Defence Defence It does not fly. It stays protecting the planet where you build it.

The Titan is unlocked with advanced research and requires a very developed economy to manufacture in quantity.

The design editor step by step

In the design lab you start from a hull and equip it with components until you get the ship you want. Each component consumes space and raises the manufacturing cost, so designing well is an exercise in balance.

5Dim ship design editor
Design editor: choose hull, armament, armor and propulsion
  1. Choose the hull: fighter, corvette, cruiser, battleship or titan depending on the role you seek.
  2. Mount the armament: determines how much damage the ship inflicts in each combat round.
  3. Add armor: increases hit points and resistance against enemy fire.
  4. Configure propulsion: affects travel speed and fuel consumption.
  5. Reserve cargo capacity if the ship is going to transport resources or other ships.
  6. Save the design and build it at the shipyard like any other ship.

How a defence is made

A defence does not come ready-made: you design it just like a ship, with its own chassis and its own parts. That is the Defence chassis, and it only accepts class F parts, which come from the Defence Technology research branch. The full route is three steps:

  1. Research Defence Technology. Every level opens one new class F part.
  2. Design in the designer, picking the Defence chassis and fitting whichever parts you want.
  3. Build the design from the shipyard, in the defences tab.

The first four parts are exactly the ones needed to assemble a complete defence, which is why below level 4 you cannot design anything that holds together:

Level Part unlocked What it does
1 Cannon Damages whoever attacks you.
2 Armour Absorbs the punishment the defence takes.
3 Reactor Provides the power that feeds every other part.
4 Cargo Protects your resources: a raider can only carry off what your hold does not cover.

The defence chassis costs no fleet capacity and inherits the budget of the largest ship size you have unlocked, so your defences grow more powerful as the round goes on without you having to do anything special.

If your core is destroyed: weakened defence

Your defence is never destroyed and leaves no debris, but it does not walk away from a defeat unharmed. If the attacker manages to destroy the object's core, the defence is damaged and needs to repair itself.

  • Right after the battle its attack and structure drop to 50 %.
  • From then on it recovers gradually over one hour, until it is back to 100 %.
  • Its cargo capacity is not affected: it only loses punch and staying power.

Every new destroyed core restarts the penalty: the defence drops back to 50 % and the hour starts again. Chaining attacks keeps a defence permanently crippled, so after losing the core it is wise not to stay exposed. You can see the current value, the original one and the remaining time in the planet's Defence tab.

The key attributes of a ship

Every design is a trade-off between four attributes. You cannot maximize them all at once: the more armament and armor you mount, the heavier, slower and more expensive the ship will be.

AttackThe damage it inflicts per shot at a specific ship size and distance.
ArmorHit points and resistance. How long it lasts before being destroyed.
Hyper speed and Impulse speedHow fast it travels between systems and how fast it moves in combat.
Cargo capacityHow many resources or other ships it can transport.

Fuel consumption grows with the ship's weight. A huge number of ships can be so expensive to move that it becomes impractical for distant missions. You can build ships without a Hyper engine that travel inside hangars and deploy in combat.

Design strategies by objective

There is no "best design": there is the right design for each mission. These are the most useful templates:

  • Attack ship: maximum armament and armor, no Hyper engine and only travels in the hangar of other ships.
  • Fast exploration ship: high propulsion, minimal armament. For discovering systems with little expense.
  • Transport and support ship: maximum cargo or hangar capacity, moderate armor and no impulse engines.
  • Support ship: fires from behind the lines; it is a large and heavy ship with both Hyper and impulse engines.

Components boost the designs of a specific ship type. Having high-level components greatly improves a ship's design and can lead you to specialize in that specific size.

Frequently asked questions about ship design in 5Dim

Can I design my own ships?
Yes. In the design lab you start from a hull (fighter, corvette, cruiser, battleship or titan) and equip it with weapons, armor, propulsion and cargo capacity.
Is there a best design?
No. There is the right design for each mission —attack, exploration, transport or support— and each one is a trade-off between attack, armor, speed and cargo.
Can I save several designs at once?
Yes, you can save as many as you want and build at the shipyard the one that best fits the tactical situation.
Does design really affect combat?
A lot. A smaller fleet with well-designed ships can beat a larger poorly optimized one: design is a real strategic advantage, not a cosmetic detail.
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