Be patient. Manufacturing becomes key, more along the refining of metals and reusing materials found on derelics.
Like I said be patient, watch the factors, you'll end up starting over a lot.
Best piece of advice I can give you is to use the sketch feature to build the basic ship shape, and then add basically one room at a time.
Oh watch your engine weight by the way, every engine is capable of driving 1600 tonnes of weight, so if you don't compensate for your weight you might end up stranded with no blocks to build another engine.
When you build your crew, make sure that you have at least three people with a high bravery level to use as a boarding party. Never send one guy over because if the ship is infected he could end up pinned to the wall.
I think its a fun game.
This is the Mintas
I've got engineering and manufacturing in the back. I've separated it by a wall and used a sealed space suit door because it produces a lot of toxic gas and its a fire hazard. The middle section is basic cargo, and you can see food production in a separate room with a space suit hatch to seal it because its a CO2 heavy area with lots of light and its warmer then the rest of the ship
Then you get crew quarters, with 8 bunks, a kitchen and rec area and a bathroom.
Then you have the bridge which is basic as I only have navigation and operations (Comms) I haven't armed the ship. I'm in the process of building a third engine becasue this ship weighs 3600 tonnes and I'm adding cargo all the time via trades and via mining and stripping ships.
Oh, the most valuable commodities for trade are building block materials for some reason.