- Some very important things I see overlooked in CV designs:
1. Supplies: The most common design flaw I see in CV design is one of of supply, or rather a lack of it. Fuel and MSP being the most egregious, while missile reloads is far less common. Overall, all but the smallest of CVs need to carry some fuel and MSP with which to sortie their craft, or conversely the craft themselves will need to furnish it, but this isn't a great way for newbie's to do it. Conversely, a CV should be designed with the expectation to operate with support ships close at hand, to maintain tempo of operations. Don't overload them, the key is to have enough supplies to cover one or two of the expected engagements, and then fall back on a dedicated supply chain to up the ante as needed.
2. Payload: Many newbie CV designs seem to either have too much or too little in the way of payload. Not so much the fighters, but rather weapons, shields, etc. on the CV itself. Most CVs in my experience do not benefit from more than armor and some rudimentary Beam PD or shields. They don't benefit from being sitting ducks either, and should at least carry either a good sensors compliment and minor passive defenses or moderate defenses of both types. I have seen some CV designs which incorporate missile launchers and missile-based strike craft, this is a big no-no as they will be competing for magazine space.
3. Jump Drives, PFC * Strike Groups: No. I put Jump Drives on my CVs, but my CVs are HOOGE. For a newbie, offload that to a Jump Ship. Jump Drives eat up precious mission tonnage and aren't a good choice unless you no exactly what you are going to do with them. That Jump Ship can also be used elsewhere in peace time freeing up the CVs to sit in dock when not in use. Primary Flight Control is a must have once 1.13 comes out as it speeds up repair, re-fuel and re-arm. All but the lightest and/or most specialized of CVs should exclude this, and only if absolutely necessary. Designate your strike groups first, then build the CV, then build your fighters to the fleet containing the CV(s). This ensures that they are assigned to the ship's auto-magically. This saves on micro.
4. Design Focus: One other thing I see in newbie CV designs fairly often, is a lack of focus. Build your CVs for a certain mission profile or profiles. You don't need magazines on a CV meant for Beam Fighters, so you can omit that for more Fuel & MSP, which Beam Fighters tend to eat more of. If you want a scout focused CV, you can omit a lot of the MSP for fuel as scouts tend to be the thirstiest of the bunch overall. Know what synergizes well; Beam Fighters & Scouts share a lot in common, as Long-Range Scouts will want some MSP and Short-Range ones are typically Beam Fighters but with big Sensors instead of guns. A missile-focused CV can very easily double as a ground support CV, since the Ground Support Craft don't need to re-load and tend not to eat much fuel, which the missile-focused CV will have a little less of then other designs as it also needs magazines. A Ground Support Focused CV can be super small as a result, needing much less fuel and MSP than the others and not needing a magazine, strictly speaking.
5. Re-Supply: Cargo Shuttle Bay and Ordinance Transfer Hub are exceptionally useful for CVs. The former speeds up the resupply of MSP and is quintessential for most warships, the latter is really only useful for a CV. The Ordinance Transfer Hub is something newbies should consider, as despite the massive investment in space, it allows the CV to re-load from multiple colliers simultaneously, which can have a big impact on missile based operations. Having an Ordinance Transfer Hub can allow a CV to operate a large volume of missile-based strike craft at a very high turnaround rate, needing only to stock the necessary Fuel and MSP, which in terms of hull space is pennies on the pound compared to magazine space. Honestly, as un-orthodox as it is, I'd think newbies could benefit from this particular tip, as it enables a very effective Base Strike doctrine to be put in practice via high-turnaround rates on the fighters.