Back to the topic...
I usually try to break away from the standard bilateral/linear designs; these have their base on RL sea-going ships, and might be realistic for streamlined starships, but a non-streamlined starship could be, practically, in any shape, configuartion and deck arrangement as will be efficient, easily defensible and/or imaginative. Armored ships would probably be more compact than their unarmored counterparts (less surface area=easier to defend), but even this doesn't preclude the use of several connected modules.
Just look at the Nostromo (from Alien), for example - most rooms have a radial symmetry rather than a bilateral one, even the bridge. The refinery it tows is even less cubistic - it doesn't have to cross an atmosphere, after all.
I usually try to break away from the standard bilateral/linear designs; these have their base on RL sea-going ships, and might be realistic for streamlined starships, but a non-streamlined starship could be, practically, in any shape, configuartion and deck arrangement as will be efficient, easily defensible and/or imaginative. Armored ships would probably be more compact than their unarmored counterparts (less surface area=easier to defend), but even this doesn't preclude the use of several connected modules.
Just look at the Nostromo (from Alien), for example - most rooms have a radial symmetry rather than a bilateral one, even the bridge. The refinery it tows is even less cubistic - it doesn't have to cross an atmosphere, after all.