Shipbucket

I let other people comment but.

look around in the forum on what other people do to understand how things work. there are also proper parts on the forum.

but one thing, a ship doesn't get good by adding teen thousand different things. for example:

8-10 SPY-1 faces doesn't make it better. you only need 4.
adding on 8 APAR faces doesn't make the the APAR or SPY-1 better due they both are doing similar things.
adding an old an heavy SPS-17A/D are not improving anything. the same with SPS-49. since today's SPY-1 are more than good enough to be an stand alone radar.

A ship keel doesn't look like that. (look on other ship on the forum.)

decide what era you'r ship are in. now you have:
AGS guns of, 2000+ era
missile launcher from the 70's, 80's, 90's. if you'r ship was build after 1990 you only need VLS for all missiles (almost all)

all guns, and missile system hanging on the side of the hull need under deck space:

guns: one deck bellow the gun for the magazine, and some ship have it several deck bellow. like those big guns.
missiles: GMLS 2-3 deck. VLS 3-3.5 deck. Russian big VLS. from keel and up.

then you need space for engine room. from 1/6 to 1/2 of a ship length. depending on what type of engine you are using.
crew space = rest of the ship (crew space: a bed and a closet = 2*1.5 to 2*2)
space for galley, C&C, shower, store, magazine, ...

you have to also think about stability. for example can that 5" gun up at the bridge work in that position.

this is what I did so far

What I want to say is, "I've discovered a new hobby: finding all the things wrong with this ship. It should keep me occupied all summer long."
But inb4 Ian says something about me being a prick (which is 100% true anyway), so....

First thing first, the superstructure looks rather bland, see what you can cook up with more detail or definition, or at least doesn't look so...I don't know, blobular.

any ideas on how i can make the superstructure more detailed

Without going into that whole prick thing I was talking about (this is another example of what being a prick is like) the only thing I can offer is that it's going to take a lot of practice. Make details look purposeful, add more details, or if you're having trouble doing so, shrink it down or eliminate. Really, it's just going to take a good "eye" to see how it goes. Look around some of the more established artists' what-ifs and crib from them.

One thing I might suggest is consider doing something of a tower. Something not unlike a water tower. You can have one "ring" that would be the bridge and command structure, and a capping "ring" (or, uh, cap) that would contain all your fancy radars and what not. The beauty of this is since you can stack a lot of your stuff on this tower, you can shrink your hull (either way your hull's going to be so big you're not going to worry about topweight) and it clears up an empty deck - a deck you need partially empty so you can access your nuclear reactor.

Oh, yeah, might as well make it nuclear too.

seems like a plan. Ill make another nuclear version

Hope the following doesn't sound negative (I like having my many mistakes pointed out so I can fix stuff).

My take on what needs fixing I would cut the weapons 1/2 and then make the ship smaller (cheaper is always better if it can still do the mission).


and keep in mind I may be wrong (I'm not sure what some of the stuff really does ).

JSB

edit - make that 4 types of CIWS ! (or at least 4 small guns, 20mm (5+ not sure if all on centre line, if so really bad arcs so or you would need 7+) + 30mm (only 1) + RAM (4 bad arcs and 1 hit will kill 2 at a time !) + ? near funnel ( 2 very old I think ? lots of top weight for not very useful system) )

JSB im thinking of making the ship nuclear so no boiler!

I did some of the things you suggested

...And that will solve all your problems
Heed advice given above for your ships to work.
1) When was she built?, this will determine hull shape (whether stealth or not for example)
2) The above point will also determine weapons and radar fit, which brings the next question, and that is the ships mission? What is your ship designed to do, if it is a shore bombardment or a sea control ship, or maybe ASW (Anti Submarine warfare)
3) See other ships from the era you have decided upon as when your ship is built. I mean real world ships, and this will give an indication what is required in terms of hull, engineering issues, weapon and radar fits.
4) $$$$$ Ships cost money, crew costs a lot of money and the infrastructure to support warships also costs money, so keep that in mind when designing your "the mother of all battleships".
5) Please, also note that a ship too long will have to be wide enough to keep its longitudinal strength, other wise a ship too long and narrow will be so much like a shoestring, with the same strength (comparatively speaking of course).
6) When all of the above was taken care off, then and only then you can start a drawing, which will no doubt be criticized here, but than "no pain, no gain".
7) Study real good what weapons do, and why or how, and where to place them. Your recent addition of Hedgehog, though correctly referred to as an anti submarine weapon, is horribly placed it was designed as an ahead throwing weapon

_________________
Thank you Kim for the crest

"Never fear to try on something new. Remember that the Titanic was built by professionals, and the Ark by an amateur"