trying to get more adventurous with vehicle design. most of these ships (except the top) are fusion engines with magnetic nozzles, which are skeletal electromagnet rings built to confine the fusion plasma and absorb its explosion, transmitting momentum to the ship while exposing as little surface area as possible to the blast of heat and x-rays. taking inspiration from modern stellarators, which use magnetic rings built in strange, complex and irregular shapes, i like to imagine huge irregular engine magnets that add curvature and gesture to the ship.

top ship: a richly ornamented middletech warship, using relatively crude nuclear bomb-powered engine tech available to atomic-age worlds.
bottom ship: a sensor picket, a ship bristling with telescopes and detectors that hangs far behind other ships in combat. space AWACS.