Actually, having the discussion in this thread would help, as then folks can easily see an compare different ship designs and opinions/experiences with those designs.

For myself, I have lots of experience with the game, but relatively little with the actual tactical side. I also tend to use the NPR design philosophy as a basis for all ship designs any particular race uses, as it gives each race a flavor of its own.
Some example that proved more capable than I at first thought they would. These are the Hallamach Untion Navy ships in my story campaign (see my sig). I don't remember if I've posted them yet or not, but I was planning to at the end of that section of the story (once the Hallamach are finished off, which will be soon).
Important information -- The Hallamach are a single system EL 1 race that did not know about warp points. Due to NPR generation rolls they only had one weapon system, the Plasma Torpedo. Their warship designs are:
JINNEL-class ES (AC) 12 HS
[2] AH(Ia)PtQa(Ia)Xp [6/3]
7 HTK Cost: 161.51 MC Maint: 24.227 MC
EL 1, A0, Xp, Pta (10 torps)
The Hallamach's original warship, which also acted as a planetary survey ship (they HUN hasn't reached SL 1 X yet).
TONNEL-class CT 16 HS
[2] SAx3H(Ia)(Ia)MgPtQa(Ia) [6/3]
11 HTK Cost: 198.2 MC Maint: 29.73 MC
EL 1, S0, A0 x 3, Pta + Mg (30 torps)
The Tonnel-class corvette is their first dedicated warship design. What I discovered is that while it is larger than the Jinnel-class it is still quite fragile when facing anything with two or more weapons, but surprisingly effective considering it is the proverbial egg-shell with a sledge hammer.
MOTTEL-class FG 22 HS
[2] SAAH(iaIa)(Ia)QaMgPtQa(Ia)(CICa) [5/2.5]
12 HTK Cost: 289.1 MC Maint: 43.365 MC
EL 1, S0, A0 x 3, Pta + Mg (30 torps), CICa
This is the Hallamach Union Navy's command frigate. Due to the small number built (only nine) all are equipped with CICa, even though only three had admirals on them (the flagships for the three fleets). As you can see, despite being six hull spaces larger than the Tonnel, the Mottel is only 1 hit-to-kill tougher, so this isn't the best design. Despite this, they tended to survive more forcebeam hits than I expected in actual combat.
DAMMEL-class DD 30 HS
[3] Sx3Ax7H(Ia)(Ia)(Ia)PtQaMg(Ia)PtQa(Ia) [5/2.5]
21 HTK Cost: 424.0 MC Maint: 63.6 MC
EL 1, S0 x 3, A0 x 7, Pta x 2 + Mg (40 torps)
The largest ship the HUN were able to field, the Dammel, and her sistership the Bammel, were the only destroyers the HUN had available when the Assembly found their system. These were surprisingly effective, due to the increased shields and armor. Originally they were designed with three Pta, but that pretty much removed all passives, so I was forced to reduce them to two Pta, and I'm glad I did. They would not have survived near as many hits and thus been much less effective in combat had they included three Pta but only thee hull spaces of passives (Pta are 7 hullspaces, iirc).