Thanks for the feedback! I was already kinda getting that feeling that I was going 'too fast', meaning that I ended up overlooking something rather fundamental.
Thing now is that all I can do is see those basic geometric shapes in my designs, all of them, from the latest ordnance to the more previous escort ships. It's kinda frustrating, since it really tempts me to throw everything away and start from zero. However, the thing then becomes on how to start such a thing, especially since the way I've been making things is indeed simply taking basic geometric shapes and beveling the edges, almost like a sculptor who cuts the pieces of a large block of granite into the shape of a human.
When comparing it to what Vaaish and you are doing, it feels as if I still have a long way to go to get near that level. To speak in game console terms, the Battlegroup Helios ships would be akin to a contemporary game system, smooth shapes that look realistic, whilst my own ships have that almost 90s CGI, Virtua Fighter, quality going on that make them look rather blocky.
The whole issue of (my insecurity regarding the models') castability is something that is more of a 'parallel problem'. At least, that's how I see it at the moment. So on one hand I need to learn to play more with the shapes in such a way that they're not just clearly your standard basic geometric shapes with some adjusted edges, this kinda leads to the multi layered nature of awesome models, like you said: base structure, armour plating, and the protruding stuff (sensors, weapons, etc). I remember you once gave me that advice when I tried to make some robots. On the other hand there's the whole casting thing, which I need to start practising in order to get some grasp of the possibilities. At the moment I'm very much working from your most basic assumption that even the slightest undercut makes any kind of casting impossible. So I'd need to experiment a bit with that.
And whilst my ship designs have come a long way since their , there's still a long way to go. The learning process is never ending!