Thanks Finis! Yes, the Cespian ships are inspired by dragonflies, butterflies and flying fish. (more or less anyway) Whereas the Lander/Coalition ships are more rugged, inspired by containers, cars and trucks. The Echron ships (like the Cruiser above) will be more sleek and aerodynamic, looking like birds and aeroplanes.
The pirate ships while be more of a mash-up of all of those.
I haven't come up with any designs for the Praat species, they should also get their own ship designs at some point.
Another thing that should help with ship identification are the faction logos which I haven't gotten round to designing yet.
All while still keeping that classic sci-fi look of course