honestly it starts with an aerodynamic ship profile with minimal parts and weaponry, then you adjust as needed for cost and shave off anything you don't need. Then ask yourself "what is it's job?" or "Do I have a theme" and you just start with color on the ship, move to add cosmetic parts without affecting cost or aerodynamics, then ask "Am I happy with this?" And take it into battle to be sure it was worth building in the first place. It's better to build a basic ship that performs well, and then try to hide the design after, then trying to build something cool looking and hoping it is not a giant expensive target-dummy. For me though, the very starting point of it all is the naming and little icon of my nation, I pick then what I'm gonna do and just let necessity of design do the rest.

How do people just spawn cool and intelligent ship designs out of nowhere??????

very cool

Nice job! I will def check out those other factions as well.

This one I'm very proud of, I went into it with a clear intent when I started the conquest and built my units on that theme. It was tough to get some to look good. The 3 other factions I've put good work into, Crimson Eagles, The Hornets, and For The Trees are also available and may be worth looking at.

This is crazy cool!