How do I build a commercial freighter?

[vonduus (OP)]

aurora 5.  54

I can build military ships with military engines, but if i try to use a civilian engine, or some cargo holds, then my designs break. 

If I open the F5-screen and choose a "freighter" hull, I get this initial summary display:

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Vanguard class Freighter    250 tons     23 Crew     48.5 BP      TCS 5  TH 0  EM 0
1 km/s     Armour 1-3     Shields 0-0     Sensors 1/1/0/0     Damage Control Rating 1     PPV 0
MSP 121    Max Repair 5 MSP

Fuel Capacity 50
Note, there is nowhere it says "This design is classed as a commercial vessel for maintenance purposes", like in the tutorial (?!?). 

Then if I give it a military engine it says:

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Vanguard class Freighter    550 tons     48 Crew     63 BP      TCS 11  TH 25  EM 0
2272 km/s     Armour 1-5     Shields 0-0     Sensors 1/1/0/0     Damage Control Rating 1     PPV 0
Maint Life 29.37 Years     MSP 72    AFR 2%    IFR 0%    1YR 0    5YR 2    Max Repair 12 MSP

Nuclear Thermal Engine E9 (1)    Power 25    Fuel Use 90%    Signature 25    Armour 0    Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 50
There is still no "commercial for maintenance purposes", but this design shows up in the retool menu in my shipyard, I can build it, and it can fly. 

But if I instead give my design a commercial engine, the summary just says:

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Vanguard class Freighter    1
- no more, no less.   And the ship does not show up in the retool menu in my shipyard, and consequently cannot be built. 

If I take away the civilian engine and go back to the military one, and then add 5 cargo holds, the summary now says:

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Vanguard class Freighter    26
Still no retooling in the shipyard. 

I have tried a lot of different combinations, (different engines, different hulls) but I have not been able to build any designs, that has cargo holds or civilian engines in it.   I may have done something wrong, when I designed the commercial engines, but the cargo holds are not designed, they came with the game, so to speak, so they ought to work.   

What am I doing wrong?


edit: For completeness' sake, this is what it says if I leave out the engines and just give the ship 5 cargo holds:

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Vanguard class Freighter    26

[Erik L]

First question, did you click the "New" button in the lower left? When designing a new ship, that is always step #1.

[vonduus (OP)]

update 2: Sorry for this wall of text, the problem is solved now, I believe.   I have updated to 6.  0, which solved the issue so far, so please ignore the rest of this post, as it concerns an older version and my copy was probably broken.   On the bright side: I have learned a lot .   Thanks, metalaxe. 


Two questions:

How do I check in advance if my design fits on a certain slipway?

Where do I see what components I have built already?



edit3: removed wall of text

[metalax]

It sounds like something has been corrupted so I'd suggest replacing the database and exe with those from the latest patch update. Grab the 5.6 patch if you don't want to upgrade to the new mechanics of the latest 6.0 patch.

[Conscript Gary]

Slipways are capped by tonnage. If you mean what ships can be built from a yard tooled to a similar class, look at the rank/dac tab I think.

Ship components can be seen from the stockpiles button in the industry tab

[Jikor]

If you could attach a screen shot of what you are seeing this may help a little. It's hard to tell if you are just having an issue with the design not remaining Commercial or if you are saying aurora is causing the design to go blank when you add a commercial engine.