Well, the one that i use works for me. I have made powerplants also buyable and re-adjusted the shields abilities. All of the prices for these are exponential in that class 1 = 4000, 2 = 8000, 3= 16000 and so on.
Once these are in place, remember you are only paying for hull itself. The add-ons will raise the ship to a fair amount.
I found that the prices are really low for ships in the game, meaning that its far too easy to get to an eagle and then you run out of things to buy. I just leave the hull price the same as it is now and increase the add-ons. It does mean that you have an eagle costing around 1.5 mill (the class 8 powerplants are pretty expensive). But, they can always remove the powerplant and new shield and go back to the one they had before hand.
For new ships i've tried to avoid adding up hardpoints and x armour x cargo and that sort of thing as it would take longer to work it out that to just find the most similar original ship and to slightly adjust them instead.
It dosen't have to be totally perfect. Having some ships that are of better (or worse) value for money adds an interesting aspect for the game and rewards players that actually pay attention to the little details in things.
Hope some of this was helpfull.

Equipment like scanners, tractor beams, shields, generators, and engines, that are in the Goods.ini's "ship packages" will affect the final pricing of any ship.
However...
I like to use a base price for each class of ship...
0 = 50000
1 = 60000
2 = 70000
3 = 90000
And a multiplier for the number of weapon's slots, and weapon levels.
Example:
3 weapons x 1000 = Additional 3000 to price
Maxium level 8 weapons = Additional 8000 to price
Torpedo slot = Additional 10000 to price
Cruise Disruptor = Additional 5000 to price (Very rare in my mods.)

If you make shields, sensors, generators, etcetera, buyable, you can remove them from the ship's package, which will lower the ship's final cost.
The player can/will have to, transfer the old ones to the new ship.

Edit:
Player feedback will also affect pricing.
Beta-testers will let you know if they think a ship is over/under-priced for what it does.
They'll also let you know if it's to easy/hard to get ahold of.
They'll also recommend what equipment should be on what ship(s).
So...
Unless you're recreating a game where things are a certain way, listen to them as much as you can, without destroying your vision of the mod.


Watch your 6!

Edited by - warzog on 4/11/2006 5:18:32 AM