I am trying to instill good working practice in someone who is a beginner to the craft. I would appreciate if people wouldn't come in, look at something shoddy, and go "ah well it isn't a big deal."
I don't think that's a healthy attitude to be engendering in people who are trying to contribute to the mod.
On to the actual mesh -
Its features, as of this moment, are largely indistinct. You've made attempts at Gallia-fying it in the the ribs above the engines, the engine block itself, and the girders following the aft section up to the midsection, but the majority of the model is pretty nondescript.
To this end I'd strongly suggest porting the existing Gallic capital ships into your modeling suite and studying them closely. Copying architecture without directly copying features is not the easiest thing to do, but it's how you build a ship unique to itself while remaining true to its shipline. Study design elements of existing models and ask yourself how you could incorporate them into your current mesh without simply copypasting them and doing a kitbash, and you'll be well on your way to making something closer resembling a Gallic ship than a generic sci-fi spaceship.
The second glaring issue I see with the model is that when looked at from the top/bottom, we are greeted by a profile which is almost completely flat on both sides. As a general rule of thumb, if a model has a flat profile when looked at from any given angle, it probably needs more thought and attention given to it.
In this screenshot I've illustrated what I mean by outlining the faces of the ships broadside (only 7, none of which make drastic changes to the ships profile) visible from the top and bottom. While Gallic ships do tend to be kind of brickish, they accomplish this while remaining visually engaging from all angles.
Valor silhouette, for reference.
I believe this is something you recognize as the model you presented to me in private yesterday had similar issues when viewed from all angles. You've especially done a good job of this with the decline from aft to mid that you've done on the underbelly, but it's always the widest portion of the ship which will present the issue most glaringly. In layman's terms if the ship is wider than it is tall you want a more interesting top profile. If the ship is taller than it is wide, you want a more interesting side profile.
Looking at the actual mechanics of the mesh, how what we see was all executed, there are a lot of unnecessary subdivisions currently present in your model. It's alright to insert these en-masse and clean them up later which I assume is the plan here, though I prefer to only add edges as I need them. Half of the edges (and consequently, verts) circled in red here don't need to exist, as is the case with likely 50 to 75% of the ship's current geometry
Many novice modelers end up simply leaving these in. They are extra geometry, they do impact performance, and they will need to be cleaned up. Keep that in mind during your modeling process so as not to create extra work for yourself.
All in all it isn't off to a bad start, just don't be disappointed if it doesn't come out looking the way you want on the first go. One of the first things I tend to tell new modelers is not to expect their first pieces of work to actually be used. Mine certainly were not. Don't be afraid to screw up, experiment, make mistakes, and have fun with what you're doing.
Obligatory warning aside, I'm excited to see where this model, and you, end up going.
