[(E)]

Early human jump capable ships worked most effectively with a largely spherical lay out until the development of the feild manipulation formulas for the Titleist generator. (Magnetic field generator).

The next wave of designs tended towards a teardrop shape to reduce drag when "Skimming" that is to say when you take a ship very close to a gas giant to collect raw gas to process into jump fuel. Exploration vessels these days typically carry smaller scoop drones to extract the raw material for fuel. Time consuming but safer.

The current level of shielding technology allows for a wider range a ship designs though. Cylindrical sections are common on long haul vessels for spin gravity. Though very small vessels as well as cheap ones usually make do with Bola sleeping quarters

Some of the very latest ships are looking more streamlined as newer "structural reinforcement generators" replace older inefficient "projected" shields.
You have seen the demo's haven't you. They wire up a piece of tinfoil to that huge machine and you try to put a hole in it with a hammer.

Question
What did the trader William Swift do with fortune he got when he sold that planetary fragment. The one containing organic material from the Xylysus home world.

Followup superscience question.
Artifical gravity exists (Kim Sun-Rok) how good is it? What are the limitations?

Edit
trying to keep the tech in line with PTTGs shield level.