A compilation of what the ISSF ship abilities do:

Disable Shields
        A well-placed shot knocks out an enemy ship’s shield array.

Hellfire Missiles
        Gives a burst of increased fire rate of missiles, effectively dealing a heavy amount of damage.

Nuclear Warheads
        Highly destructive weaponry increases the damage output from the using ship.

EMP
        An electromagnetic pulse quickly disables other ships, but is only effective at short range.
        The Rottweiler EMP is powerful and knocks out target ships for a long time, but needs to recharge for an equally long time in order to fire it again.
        The Valkyrie EMP has proportionally shorter time than the Rottweiler, but is effective enough to escape a pursuer.

Repair Crews
        Skilled repair teams sent to damaged ships quickly keep them in operation.

Ammunition Supply
        A constant stream of ammunition replenishment keeps a high firing rate for the ships being supplied.

Seek-and-Destroy
        The using ship receives a boost in speed to close the gap and deliver a crippling blow fleeing ships.

Ping
        Ship emits a powerful signal that detects the smallest of ships through the most powerful radio emissions, thus identifying cloaked ships.

Boxer Missile
        An anti-ship missile powerful enough to destroy a frigate instantly.

Emergency Power
        The user ship’s power is redirected into its weapon and shield systems, increasing the ship’s firepower.

Blockade
        The ship blocks trade to and from the enemy’s planet thus stealing the enemy’s credits. Ability’s effect increases in the presence of trade ports and refineries. Has similar effect to Embargo.

Moment of Desperation
        As a last-ditch action, the ship’s captain orders the ship to ram the closest enemy ship. This action severely damages and possibly destroys the using ship, but guarantees that the target ship is destroyed. (This ability will be limited to only when the ship's hull is damaged beyond half-way)

Flak Screen
        A screen of flak-fire is used to destroy any small ships or fighters that dare too close to the ship.

Evasive Maneuvers
        The ship receives extra power to is engines, allowing it to outrun incoming ships and evade some weapons.

Scramble Fighters
        An extra squadron of fighters is launched to counter a force of fighters and/or bombers.

Perseverance
        Repair crews work against incoming attacks, keeping the ship in the fight longer.

Fire-Control Array
        Allies receive an extended targeting range and increased accuracy.

Missile Screen
        A point-defence system protects the ship and its nearby allies from long-range missile strikes.

Propaganda
        The ship broadcasts a radio signal to the occupying faction of the planet, increasing the planet’s allegiance to the ship’s user.

Sensor Jammer
        Enemy ships in the system cannot detect or target the user’s ships; effectively cloaking them from enemy radar. This is a toggled ability, but ally ships must be within range in order to be covered by the jamming system.

Gauss Rail Gun
        A high-power kinetic energy weapon capable of ripping a hole through a ship. (same as Kol's)

Missile Storm
        A cloud of missiles is all launched at once, randomly hitting anything in range.

Thermonuclear Warheads
        Increases the destructive power of missiles.

Cluster Bomb
        A timed explosive missile is fired where it will detonate, filling an area with a devastating amount of damage.

there, big enough? i don't want to take up too much room than it already it is.

Wow, thanks for the support ShadowMastiff!

Though I have experience in game designing this is still my first mod and I will eventually require help when it is needed. I will do my best to make this mod the best, because I want it to be the best. So, I also want some feedback -- even at this stage, because what good is a mod if only one person likes it, right?

Start by creating a new player entity! for thart simply copy-paste one of the player.entities! then change the first lines to the name you wanna give it and all. Then open the string file and add a line (using as template the line of other races names) with your races name! CONGRATULATIONS YOU NOW HAVE A FOURTH RACE!

Now simply go down that new race.entity and change as you go.

for example..next in line is the tab 0 of ships = frigates!

Take the first one (scout if memory serves me right!), copy-paste the entity of the scout of the race you're using as template and rename exactly the same name except you change the race. Ie. FrigatePhaseScout ---> Frigate'yourrace'Scout, open the entity in notepad and make the changes you want! Adding abilities and all..etc!

Keep on going down the list and you'll them work on buildings and finally on research!

My tip: Keep it up! In a few hours, you'll get the declick and you'll understand how everything works. Once that is achieved your off to complete the fastest yet most important task of your mod. Codding your ships and abilities.

Once that is done, you may start worrying about models (at least thats how I proceed) which are located in the MESH file of your sins folder (to answer youre second question).

Sorry my answer isnt really detailed but I'm currently struggling to gather the strenght to finish a personnal challenge thus I dont ahve all my head +_+!

-ShadowMastiff2468-

Here are the first two ships that have taken shape:

Cancelled ship:

Hunter Destroyer:

this is really cool ,looking forward to it.

will u make the style like bsg? so with the look a little bit of bsg, u know what i mean??

cause i find the vannila game is to much... high tech, u know what i mean?

These are some old ship models that I'm thinking of just throwing in, maybe another faction or two -- tell me what you guys think

Inspired by WWI HMS Dreadnaught and Ironclads:

Spin-off designs:

Emperor of Thyre class:

Spin-offs:

Yeah, that's what I was thinking along the lines of. I do want some rotating sections on some of the ships, but I haven't seen any ships with moving parts, so I don't know if I'd be able to.

As for the ships' functional uniqueness, they will have no shields, but have long-range weaponry - amplifiyed by the Command Ship's Fire-Control Array ability.

Thanks SpardaSon, that could work.

Another matter, after working on the ships for a while now, I've decided to change-up the ship roster; the new ship classes (no change to the ship designs) are as follows:

SSV — Gunships:
 – Destroyers — one is a heavy Cap, and a second is a cruiser
  SSV-DDH · Large Multi-Role Destroyer (Capital)
  SSV-DDG · Area Defence Destroyer
 – Frigates — these ships are all of course frigates, but each ones will differ with their roles
  SSV-FFH · Large Multi-Role Frigate
  SSV-FFG · General Purpose Frigate
  SSV-FFR · Area Defence Frigate
  SSV-FFL · Light Patrol Frigate

CSV — Carriers:
 CSV-LAC – Assault Carrier — this Cap carries an invasion force to attack planets (think of the Spirit of Fire)
 CSV-CV – Strike Carrier — not much difference from the original Cap
 CSV-CE – Escort Carrier — same here, but a cruiser; half the strength of a Strike Carrier

CCV — Support Vessels:
 CCV-CNC – Command-and-Control Vessel — same as the old Geneva-class
 CCV-CR – Combat Replenishment Vessel — functions similar to the Aurora-class

ISV — Civilian Ships:
 ISV-C – Colony Ship — same as the Atlas-class
 ISV-X – Exploration Probe — same as the Odyssey probe
 – Starliner — new idea, putting the cancelled ship model to some use
 – Freighter — they'll bear similarities to the Emperor of Thyre-class-style of ships

FV — Fighters:
 – Superiority Interceptor — an anti-fighter fighter
 – Attack Fighter — deals with small, hard-to-hit targets
 – Strike Fighter — deals with large, hard-to-miss targets

OV — Orbital Vehicles:
 OV-Y – Construction Shuttle — ISSF version of the construction frigate
 OV-T – Deployment Shuttle — you'll see this ship launched when ISSF ships invade planets

Once finished, the old Hunter-class Destroyer will become the new Destroyer Captial ship. And the ship above that, I've decided to use as Starliners (civilian transports)
In essence, I really only took out the Korolev and Havoc, and replaced several of the Frigates.

SSV-DDH — Large Multi-Role Destroyer:

 I've been trying to figure the cost to build each of the ships. Fact is that I really don't like Sins' resource selection. Looking at the resources reminds me of the resources from Starcraft -- It works from a game-economic point-of-view, trading between them and all that.
 But I don't really like doing that when I'm trying to build a fleet and I keep running out of crystal. And crystal's not really a resource of the space age -- what would they use it for?

 I wonder if it'd be alright with everyone if I just maybe cut out crystal, and just focus on credits and metals to build my ships, ok?

I would strongly recomend keeping it for the more powerful ships (maybee cruisers and caps only), or having research be Crystal dependant. That way the faction remains balanced.