Starsector 0.97a is out! (02/02/24); New blog post: Simulator Enhancements (03/13/24)
I think that manufacturers might be more neutral / natural. People associate a company's product with a style and concepts. Eras of history has always felt kind of weird, like we're using medieval bows against laser cannons or something. I don't mind so much that they're from different periods in the lore; it's the implications behind Low, Middle and High Tech that don't sit well. In the real world, we're still using machineguns whose core design is older than my 100-year-old grandmother and lots of people carry Colt 1911's because they're effective and they Just Work. But we aren't using stave-bows in military contexts; technological progression (especially in weapons) tends to happen because, well, the newer tech is just better.
Pegasus is the Mudskipper.Manufacturers/designers seems better than trying to stuff all the ships into broad doctrines/eras/whatever.
Even if low-tech/midline/high-tech seem cheesy, they work. Low-tech has that rugged, simple but effective feel and style. Midline has sleek angular space wedges or blocks with bullets and laser beams. High-tech has fancy and curvy blue saucers or pimples that rely too much on energy and fancy tricks.