Re: [OFFICIAL] Freighters/Merchants question....

   I like the "modular freighter" idea that most people have been
tossing
  about.  I would probably buy all of them below, but I would look most
forward
  to the Colony Transport and Repair ship.  Other things I would like to
see:

	Orbital facilities, especially orbital colonies.  I would like
to see
	  these not be as big as bases are now.  Something about the
size of
	  heavy cruisers would look better around most small planets.  
	  Satellite based planetary defenses should probably be PC/DC
sized,
	  perhaps a bit larger.

	Orbital mining/manufacture centers.  These would usually be in
orbit
	  around Gas Giants, which tend not to be displayed on the
board, so 
	  they could be bigger.  Perhaps self-propelled asteroid belt
miners 
	  that just consume each asteroid as they come to it.  Works for
the
	  Oort Cloud and Kuiper belt too...

	Large in-system defense ships with no ftl.  Perhaps these could
be 
	  older ship types with no ftl.  Then you could include an ftl
engine
	  kit to allow people to also make some of the last generation
of big
	  ships (BB's, BDN's, etc.).  Just a thought.  Some sort of
non-ftl
	  big ship capable of defending a system would be nice though.

   grant

> An open question to all you listers out there.....
> 
> We're going to be doing some expansions/replacements to the range of 
> FT merchant ships (FT 3xx series) very soon, and I wanted to canvass 
> some opinion on whether there are any specific sorts of ships you'd 
> like to see made.
> 
> Current ideas are:
> 
> *Some all-new general  freighters and tankers, to replace some of the 
> old CMD designs that are now getting a bit rough due to worn-out 
> moulds.
> * Star Liner
> * Private space yacht
> * Repair/maintenance ship of some sort
> * At least a couple of new free traders/small tramp freighters
> * Bulk Carrier (big tin can)
> * Colony Transport (big tin can with lifesupport....)
> * New Space Tug design
> 
> Any particular votes/preferences out of these, and/or other ideas...?
> 
> Jon (GZG)
>