We had some remarks here before GalCiv 3 came out, that the editor there could well be used to visualize some Aurora designs.
Well, I did it too in some other side testgame, and since you are uploading them now... . I didn't play the game from some weeks after release, so these here are relatively old already:
First thing I tried was some sort of completely offensive frigate with I believe 25kt mass, and deployed in sets of 3 at least.
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Obviously Warhammer inspired, as with the rest of the ships. It only fired size 1 missiles (/shells) as a broadside, -100 of them in a salvo-, and it was the prototype experiment that lead to the much more streamlined and just as successful frigate that I later used in the logged EU Stars game.
Well, I liked the Warhammer route, so I had to think of a way to design some sort of Strike Cruiser for ground invasions that used similar schematics:
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60kt with identical fire power and speed to the large frigate above.(though the design doesn't look much bigger here) Had much more armor though, and of course the drop capacity.(some basic sensors too, - my 'must have' rule for cruisers)
Lastly the most precious thing. Completely inspired by Wh40k Armatus Cruiser (I think english name is Dauntless):
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I forgot whether it was 50 or 60kts. I had one best available active and passive sensor, and here I tested that also much smaller size-1 spam will crack the defenses of pretty much all encounters, so I had space for some ineffective style weaponry.
Meant to operate alone by standing at a distance as spotter at the flanks of a main fleet (or the enemy fleet), and still has high enough speed to accomplish this. Power factor was x1, I believe, but on 40% engine tonnage.
I am a fan of all light cruisers, as they manage to balance "feeling heavy", yet magically also still handle nimbly. Both, the Wh40k battlefleet gothic, as the Rouge Trader version of Armatus are excellent and efficient designs in comparison to others.
Light cruisers as this in Aurora only become viable when you are sure that your best active also outranges enemy missiles, because otherwise it will go down like nothing ever was there. It can however easily pick on smaller targets you find in most non-npr, but spoiler ridden systems, so I had to realize that this is a comfort function ship too. Like a non-survey, but military exploration ship that clears the front of newly discovered systems of rubble, so civils can safely traverse.
Is planned to find extraordinary high use in the future reboot of EU Stars once TL 5 era comes around.
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I have not created any other ships in GalCiv 3 since then though, and am kind of reluctant to do so in future. You usually think you have a pretty clear picture of your ships in your head, but once you try to really "draw" them out, you have to realize the amount of details you lack, and how blurry that vision really was. Consequently it takes ages to really render the idea out, and in the end I personally am not even fully satisfied, as the product was in every case still slightly besides what I originally wanted.
Also, it takes ages to do still. Figuring out the last one was the work of a complete afternoon if I remember correctly, because details are really hard to get in GalCiv when the proto-components there simply lack a part that you have in your vision.(like the heavy prow there, which is actually faked by blending over a dozen other components together in a way where they nullify each others shortcomings. same, but not as severe with the broadsides, or the "turrets")
