Expand shipbuilding proficiencies...

[Baphnedia]

With the Avorion 2.0 progression changes, an additional benefit to unlocking new materials might be to unlock new uses for older materials.  The changes here might be somewhat subtle, but could greatly vary ship designs and not just focus designs on the lightest &/or beefiest materials available. 

Presently:  Some blocks are available in a variety of shapes as soon as you get them.  For blank hull, hull, armor, stone, etc; you can immediately start building in almost any shape.  Oh!  Crew quarters too. 

Proposed Change:  Each time a player's ship building proficiency increases, some blocks gain new shapes that they may be placed in.  New shapes may be gained a few at a time or all/nothing (I'm personally in favor of block, edge, corners, and the rest, but that discussion is something to consider and beyond this post in particular.  For instance: 
Material +0:  Normal, block choices are as they are now.
Material +1:  Framework, Thruster, Turret Rotation Lock, Torpedo Storage gain new shapes.
Material +2:  Energy Container, Dock, Assembly, Torpedo Launcher gain new designs (direction of torpedo launch could be based on the angle of a given face of the block rather than a cardinal direction.
Material +3:  Shield Generators, Generators, Hangars (including fighter entry/exit direction) gain new shapes.
Material +4:  Academy, Cloning Pods, & other things. 

This wouldn't have to be available for all material types; and it gives the possibility of progressing your construction prowess beyond Avorion (material), through other endgame challenges.  Otherwise, the way materials are shown above, you could only make Edgy Academies from Naonite when you unlock Avorion as a building material.  Either way, it would be interesting to see if the amount of performance of some blocks would be sacrificed for stuffing other blocks on edges and corners; and potentially keep some earlier materials more relevant throughout the game.