Group,attach or boolean or link? Take 3.

With the project finished, I can already recognize alot of mistakes I made but for this post I will focus on the way I will combine,attach link and group objects in the future.

1) First boolean and unify all objects that make into one object.
2) Remove unessaseary vertices and edges.
3) Attach secondary objects around my  primary objects that though they are stationary have diffrent materials.
A example would be the dreadnoughts main body and all the rivets around it. The main body has a red metal texture while the rivets are gold. These rivets are part of the body and will move with it so I will attach them.
If they were the same material then its step 1 and I would boolean them.
4) Attach moving parts that will be used for skinning and rigging.
5) Link objects that move for animation.

I would use group to move and rotate a group of objects in the scene  before the animation begins.