...in a realistic combat situation.

If the devs want to test combat capabilities of the trident M... why not simply host an event with a set amount of Trident M's (respective to the number of players who sign onto pilot them/one per guild) and a set amount of fighters/bombers (all player piloted).

This would give a basic idea of how they would fare in a Deneb style combat situation populated by PC's only.

The Devs or maybe a guide (if it is within their powers) could give one Trident M per guild and one per unguilded player. It would give the players a sense of what they are working for and provide important feedback (and critiques) for the Devs.

Naturally, you don't get to keep the Tridents, they are taken away after the battle... though I'm sure some type of prize would be reasonable.

+1 Sounds good.

CD's NW analysis of the Type M's combat capabilities:

It sucks in combat. one or two fighter escort are better than all 4 gunners even with Neut 3 turrets.

Until they give player capships a path to capital gauss turrets or better, more forward ports or better weaponry for the paltry 1 large port, and SHIELDS, they are far better served as a mobile repair/reload base, and not suited to prolonged combat.

(plus the damage updating is bugged, see bug report)

I'd be curious to see one deploy with bubble turrets while trying to function as a battlefield mobile repair/reload base

Tridents in border skirmishes suck pretty bad too, and they have shield generators and swarm turrets with unlimited ammo! They're really not designed to be a weapons platform...

They're really not designed.

Your statement had more words than necessary for greatest possible truth content. I have revised for you.

Capital ships by nature are rarely any good at close combat - They usually carry long range offensive weapons and some short range defensive weapons. Mostly they rely on smaller support ships to provide protection or employ stealth to reach thier target.

VO at the moment does not actually have any long range targets that could be attacked properly by a Capital ship. Turrets could be a potential target but suitable weapons would need to be added to make the risk and effort worthwhile along with some weapons that are usefull against a capital ship.

Additionally VO now needs a heavy fighter ship to be added to its line up.

"VO at the moment does not actually have any long range targets that could be attacked properly by a Capital ship. "

You mean apart from... Queens, Levis, blockades and other cappies? These could all be attacked properly if cappies had some decent weapons, like Avalons. Though honestly, we need a whole new selection of weapons (good weapons, not ridiculously powerful incredibly slow weapons or the current weapons which for the most part are complete rubbish).

Tridents need a forward firing insta-hit beam cannon, like the old HACs had but less auto-targety. Good for slicing up turrets, levis, cappies, and queens, but not overpowered for anti-fighter defense - Polaris Raven CPL, anyone?

Of course Inc & Co. will screw it up/not attempt it, because they're porting VO to some small niche tablet market or something. Woo.

An offensive weapon, specific to capships, sounds like something worth doing in the near future, at least as a prototype. Maybe even something that specifically does the most damage to the shields of other capships, without doing a lot of directed damage.

I also appreciate the need for a wider selection of defensive turret weaponry for the Tridents (amongst other things(.

Here's a link back to a six year old post, for great justice!
http://www.vendetta-online.com/x/msgboard/3/10619?page=2#122687

(To paraphrase, for any given rate of tracking beam weaponry becomes more effective at longer distances. Not prohibitive of Capacitor Pulse Laser type things, but worth taking into consideration)

I was kinda thinking along the lines of a pair of forward facing non-tracking beam weapons for the ships main weapons.

For me, instead of capship offensive capabilities, I prefer improving its defensive capabilities, and improve turrets in general.

Since it was stated before that an AGT-as-Turret can cause network lag, I can accept not having it. But would be my #1 existing gun to be mounted into a turret... just like NPC Moths has... maybe with a workaround, limiting to one or two per ship.

1. Create Capship-grade turrets available to players in capship stations. Simply won't appear in small ships tab.
1.1. AGT-like... may cause lag, but worth try!
1.2. Swarm turrets, with lots of ammo
1.3. FLAK turrets (NEW) - just mount a sunflare, and change its ordnance to allways explode at max range. This can create a visual barrier, exactly like flak (anti-air) guns since WW2, or those seen in BSG. Rapid rate of fire and strong concussion, for area saturation.

2. Add mining turrets.

3. Add ONE anti-capital gun to Trident's pilot
3.1. Exactly the same that exists in Critical Hive Skirmishes' Tridents
3.2. Torpedos - basically an overpowered Stingray (Maybe Avalons, preferably new name)

Flaks in action as defensive weapons against fighters and missiles:

If you want flak turrets... (an actual good idea, congrats Alloh)... we already have the answer/solution. Just modify the Flechette Cannon. It could even be a crafting mission.

Requirements:

4 Flechette Cannons
1 Advanced Targeting System
5 Consumer Electronics
2 Gyroscopes
20 XiRite Alloy
1 Xang Xi Advanced Robotics (assuming you have the option of AI targeting)

After that it's just a matter of being able to destroy incoming rockets and missiles.