Related to *NEW* cappie implementation and Inc's statement that there will be different Trident types, I am creating this topic to discuss the subject. My proposal is give a limited internal space to tridents, and distribute it between internal components as Shields, autoturrets, docking bay and storage.

I have not the real numbers, so this is a WILD GUESS, please ignore the numbers and focus on concept:
+2000cu Total Trident internals (T)
-1200cu Shield Generators (SG)
-400cu 4x Autoturrets (AT)
-400cu small docks / 800cu medium docks / 1600cu large docks ({s,m,L}D)
..-->100/200/300cu for light/medium/heavy (from vo-wiki). I suggest raise heavies to 400cu.
..--> a small docking bay fits 4 light fighters OR one moth and one light fighter

So, back in original concept, we could have many variations:
* Freigthers: (large storage, onboard player-run SHOP and shared storage, but no shields nor RR )
--XC: 1600cu storage, small docks, no AT
--Basic: 800cu storage, medium docks, AutoTurrets
--Mall: 400cu storage, medium docks, no turrets - multiple onboard shops (4)

--Fortress: 400cu storage, small docks, no AT but with SHIELDs

* Combat: (Shields and offers Repairs and Reload, but no shop or shared storage)
--Assault: small docks and Autoturrets
--Flagship: Medium docks, no AT
--Carrier: Large Docks (16 fighters!) but no AT

Anyway, I think it is important to have to choose between Cargo OR shields. This would explain why fighters and moths can't have shields, its generator is larger than those ships. (edit) and also choose between a flying shop or repair+reload.

We also could have 2 engines classes, when the improved engine takes 600cu for delivering increase performance.

Ideas? Comments? Flames? Stupid Lector comments going OT? Improvements?

(EDIT) Trade cappies should have shops, combat cappies should sell RR.

Perhaps have a Small Shield Generator sufficient to prevent being solo'ed by a single fighter for about -200 CU. I suspect that these first unshielded Tridents are cows before the slaughter.

FUCK SHEILDS!

I want a trident with a goddamn cloacking field that has nothing but a fighter bay, a cool paintjob and invisibility!

anyways jokes aside capships would be sweet with a HW2 type subsystem system.

+1 to OP, but i think all the spaces should be increased by at least 25%

Capships are here to be HUGE damnit !

Instead of reducing the cargo holds for the sake of game's economy disbalancement, it's the game economy system that should be rebalanced/adjusted to support large cargo holds.

Spidey, what good is a cool paintjob if it's invisible?

@PaladinofLancelot:

Agreed.

Capital ships operate on an entirely different level of scale than their subcapital counterparts. Even the Behemoth, by far the largest "small craft" in the game, is absolutely *tiny* compared to even a Trident--to date the smallest capship in the game.

The notion that a Trident's hold would be so small as to be rivaled by a half-dozen or so Behemoth XCs is asinine. I might be able to swallow that for military-grade variants, which would logically sacrifice cargo space for combat performance, but it makes no sense for their ostensibly 'civilian-grade' counterparts. Even attributing 90% of the ship's volume to essential systems, there is still more than enough space to fit a large number of small craft side-by-side.

For a basic Trident variant, I expect nothing less than 2000cus for its size. Preferably more.

Ideas from lengthy PoL's topic:

-Player-owned shops are great, but inside stations.
-Player-owned cappies should work as a mobile Conquerable Station. This include previous topic, shops.

New idea resulted:
-COMBAT-oriented cappies should be able to SELL RR (Repair and Reload). Price=zero results in free RR. But no shop.
-TRADE-oriented cappies should have player-run shops, for commodities. Just like stations' ones. Or at least some shared storage area. But not offer RR, or only repairs without reloads.

Why wouldn't they be able to offer reloading? I mean, assuming they sell weapons and stuff, it is illogical that the player couldn't buy some rockets and slap them into his ship.

I do like the idea of allowing the owner to control whether RR is allowed and what the cost is.

As for the forced distinction between military and commercial capships, I would rather the difference merely be expressed in the ship's stats, and allow the owner to dress the ship up how he wants. A military ship would probably have a smaller hold, but some merchants might prefer to exchange that cargospace for the added durability of a milspec ship so that they can sell people things in more dangerous locales, such as in the middle of a skirmish in Deneb.

Added Pizza's idea on shielded freighter, to be used as a military supply ship or a deep gray freighter...

About storage, remember we have to deal with a limited docking bay now. So no longer you can cramp 20 XCs on a 360cu ship. As I propose, the docking bay itself takes room, and one moth should take 400cu.
So a small dock holds either:
-1 XC or any other moth (200cu cargo taking 400cu storage)
-1 Maud and 1 EC (60+26 cargo) or 2 Atlas (Best case: 76cu cargo)
-4 centurions or vults (100cu each) or 1 Ragnarok and 1 Valk (300+100) or only 2 hogs.

or any combination. Basically, from existing game engine, small, medium and large ships takes 100,200,300cu respectively. I propose increase moths to 400cu.

I guess RR facilities should take another 200cu... so choose it.

Dreaming far away, tridents should be modular. Purchase a frame, choose its components...
...................\engines\
>{Docks-|-RR-|--storage--|-AT-|-Shields}>>main body
................../engines/