This. The title. I’ve decided to try tribe since I’ve good luck with Fed and Rebels.
And they go down like they’re made of glass. I try to give cruisers dual shields, armor to about the 12’s if I can, and such- and even with MULTIPLE repair systems per cruiser, they just get shredded by anything with a gun.
Does anyone have any advice?
Apologies if this is in the wrong forum.
The key to the Tribes survivability is not in Shields or Armour but Hull Integrity. Think of them as the Proverbial Brick Outhouse.
I STRONGLY recommend that you read 123’s Comprehensive GSB Guide. As it is just that - a comprehensive guide and provide design ideas for the various races which will get you through the toughest fights.
Once you have read the guide it will be very easy for you to design some Powerful Tribe Ships:
Also: try the search function, because you may find some useful info.
Newbie + Tribe Player here
I also recall a thread that has ship design suggestions that you can import into your game
Odd, I DID search and it didn’t kick anything up. Sorry. x.x;
Dont worry about it 
Searching for a specific item can be tricky at times (it helps to know what key words will uncover what your looking for.)
It also doesn’t help that some of the key words are ignored because they are common.
Aaaand, to be honest, I sorta cheated. Since I knew roughly that the thread existed, I was able to find it quicker 
Case in point: Post Your Ship Builds! (There is a good tribe plasma cruiser in there)
Stop using repair, stop using armor, and stop using big ships.
Just put 1 reflective shield and as many guns as you can fit on the Utopia hull. They are all about firepower while surviving on raw HP and shield blocking.