Well what I mean is I see that ther is the option to build battleships but I can never build one in the game but I can build destroyers and stuff.

To me, the whole system of ship design is not very intuitive. The first time through is a no-brainer....design ships as you reach certain benchmarks on the tech tree. But on subsequent playthrough's with the same race, it's rather annoying to have to paw through the tech tree to see what will be available when.

Yes, I know that when you select a tech to research, the box on the upper right will tell you what that unlocks and what other techs you might need. But....I want to know what I need for a particular ship type that might be a bit further down the road without having to write everything down as you design it.

To put it more clearly...I hope...I would like to go to the shipyard and have every design I've made listed along with the required techs. That would save a lot of time instead of having to click through the research screen.

Just my 2bc.....

For me, I usually spy on other races using espionage. Then, I look at other races' ship designs and components, and copy off them to make me equally powerful.