Good advice for a new player, so it looks like my plan for a standard size freighter of around 30 to 40 k tons is a pretty rational size to plan my shipyards around, with smaller freighters/tankers for resources (hadn't really considered that yet, as I'm mainly getting resources back to Earth using automated mines and mass drivers).

I was going to have a couple of really big yards (in slips and tonnage) but the retooling and expansion costs are quite considerable and it looks like I might be better at this early stage in my game in getting a good number of shipyards (both civ and military) up and running, then deciding on expansion (in slips and tonnage).  It is quite frustrating in a good way trying to work out the best mix of ship types and numbers and shipyards, tonnage and slips to match it. . .

One thing that has not been mentioned in the thread is that retooling of a shipyard takes more time the more slips you have. This is my main concern when I decide how many slips each yard gets. A yard that will produce many different ship types generally only get 2-3 slipways while yards that are dedicated to particular ship types get more slipways.

I generally build my yard up to a good size for the type of ships I intend to use it for and then add the number of slipways I deem appropriate.

For civilian ships that is...

10-15.000t for smaller civilian support ships such as tankers, mineral haulers etc..
30-40.000t for freighters, colony ships and troop transports
60-70.000t for larger utility ships such as salvages, gate builders etc..
100.000t+ for large bases such as Harvesters, Mining platforms, Maintenance bases, Terraformers etc..

For military ships that is...

1-3.000t for system defense crafts.
5-7.000t for long range reconnaissance/scout vessels and anti-small craft defense frigates.
9-12.000t for destroyer type ships.
15-20.000t for fleet escort vessels such as smaller cruisers and support ships.
30.000t+ for capital ships built for war only.

I might build several yards in each category above and the number of slipways will depend on the frequency of retooling I will have to perform to support construction and upgrading of my entire fleets. So the total number of yards and slipways vary depending on needs and long term strategies.

I tend to base my commercial ships somewhere around the size of a standard freighter with 5 holds, once the yard is big enough for a 5 hold freighter I'll retool it for that and start construction, then increase size while I'm making freighters, when I have enough I'll retool for colony ships or terraformers/miners/trooptransport/tanker/etc/whatever I need at whatever size the yard is, then going back to expansion. Eventually when the yard gets big enough that I can fit a new freighter with 1 more full cargo hold then I'll retool for that.
So my commercials tend to be fairly random sizes untill I start worrying about jump engines, then I may start limiting or standardising my ships. I would generally then design a jump engine big enough to install in my standard freighter and maintain the same speed. Then I would only build a few of those ships and station them around jump points as mobile jump gates, but for the most part keep using the same old freighters I have.
I would use the full size jump capable freighters for moving stuff to newer colonies which are getting less infrastructure  delivered.

If I recall, your colony ships will be larger than the freighters. Even if you take a freighter, rip out the holds and put in the cryo units, it'll be larger. So there is a good reason for a larger civ yard.

The reason is the added crew requirements for cryo storage compared to cargo holds.

More ships = more berths for captains.
More ships = more fuel used (possibly).
More ships = more trips to run.
More ships = more wear on components (Okay, that doesn't apply to "civilian" designs, but is worth a note).

Wow, that was quick 

Good points, currently I am running squadrons of 5 smaller freighters capable of moving installations in one trip together.

My 35,000 ton freighter design is probably more efficient (fuel, resource use to build, etc).
The idea of flexibility from having multiple smaller freighters is negated by the issue they are needed together in squadrons to move a whole installation in one lift.
Fuel is not really a concern for me at the moment (haven't even left the solar system and there is plentiful sorium)
As for more management of multiple ships it is not too onerous as the smaller freighters are operated together as a squadron.
However my smaller freighters are giving me a useful outlet for Lieutenant Commanders who need their first command. 

Thanks for covering some of the issues, I think I may go up to 35,000 tons on one of my civilian shipyards early in the game (and just keep adding slips at another), just not really sure if there are many other needs early on for large shipyards over more slips per shipyard.

I have a related question as I am expanding my main civilian shipyard at the moment. 

What is a good size for a civilian shipyard to go up to in the early game?

I am considering building approx.  35,000 ton freighters to move installations in one move (25,000 ton cargo hold) to augment my smaller freighter fleet.
Or am I better off adding slips and pumping out multiple smaller freighters.

Thanks for any advice for a newbie 

I go with upgrading the tonnage first, then adding slips once I reach a target tonnage.  The main reason for this is the time to upgrade 50 tons capacity (1 hull size) is multiplied by the number of slips you already have.  The time to add a slip however is just based on the tonnage that can be built.  It takes the same time to add 1 slip to a 3 slip shipyard compared to a 10 slip shipyard.  It would take 3 1/3 times as long to add that 50 tons capacity to a shipyard that has 10 slips on it as compared to one with 3 slips. 

This is not cast in stone, but once I pick a general size for a ship class I tend to stay fairly close to that size.  If I later decide a need a few more tons capacity, that is not to hard to upgrade to.  A major upgrade of size is generally not needed.  I also tend to cap any one shipyard at the point of having 3, 5, or 10 slips.  3 for quick to make ships that I won't want tons of, these are generally specialist type ships.  5 slips for most ship types, and 10 slips for ships I will make a lot of, this includes freighters, light combat/patrol ships, surveyors, ect.


Brian