Last year when Stellaris was new and shiny, I was so frustrated with an asshole Ancient Race, (the unmovable "mountain ranges" of the game), I didn't appreciate what civilization I HAD built. A Republic of 5 Races working together in harmony.

...Behold the mainstay of the Holy Republic of Tumbarr Star Navy - the cruiser-carrier. An ugly "dark box in the dark", guns could be mounted on from a pragmatic people. Now when it comes to a "Star Wars vs. Star Trek"-style discussion, there's just something satisfying about not just drawing some ship and writing ego-boosting technobabble, but coming from a strategy game gives this a leg to stand on - relative strengths and weaknesses compared to other ships, and the game's merciless judgement that this design actually works - it won battles, it won wars.

• Jump Drive - These ships can "leap" to just about anywhere. When danger threatened ships could jump directly from starbase to battle. (Yeah like Star Trek, but hopefully not to their doom!)

• Long-Range Tachyon Lances - The jump drive only brings these ships to the edge of a system. To get to grips with the enemy ASAP, the main guns can hit targets reliably at "unsporting" ranges.

• Advanced Fighters - Trailing slightly behind the tachyon beams, are multiple squadrons of fighters and bombers, allowing "free range" target selection. They also have a nasty habit of getting inside enemy shields. (Sector-B in Starfox Zero is right on - high-tech fighters flying around big blue beams!)

• Regenerative Shields - "I'm remodulating the shield frequency!" There is a module that allows shields to be recharged. These ships have it. "Our shields are down!" is not the endgame, these ships can bring them back online.

• Point-Defense, Shield Disruptors - Standard range weapons that were merely on par with what their enemies used, not advantages. With these weapons they can hold their own at "fair fight" ranges.

• Crew Training - I was careful to produce capital ships only at main starbases with naval academies and navigator's schools. This didn't seem to give much of an advantage in-battle (their enemies were well-trained as well!)

The general effect of this design is to function both in a fleet and independently. For example, during the Qravadox War, a single cruiser and its fighter escort valiantly held off 6 enemy destroyers in a sacrificial rearguard action (think "300"... IN SPACE!!!) In major fleet engagements, the long reach of the fighters and tachyon beams allowed admirals to converge all fire on any single target, and knock out the greatest threats one-by-one.

tl;dr - Made this in Stellaris, it fought like Star Fox XD