I had an interesting idea, which may have already been thought of, but here it goes. So far we have seen two 'Merchant' vessels, and they are HUGE, so perhaps we need something a bit smaller. Envisage a 3 ish crew merchant ship aprox. 60-100 metres, a pilot, a security officer to patrol the merchant deck, and the captain/merchant. At max there should only be space for 6 people, with 3 being allocated jobs on the merchant deck (but NPCs can fulfill these roles so?). A hammerhead style of cockpit allowing for excellent views when landing and forward facing views, above which sits a XS or S landing pad which would allow atleast 1 ship (or more if it is kept open like on the Kraken), behind the cockpit sits the crew area with simple amenities, behind which can sit a large cargo area. At the aft of the ship can be a small engine/engineering room?. This can be the lower deck, or crew deck, with multiple small lifts (maybe a single SCU lift) to allow for goods to be transported up to the upper deck (2 deck design, fairly flat vessel, but broad ... think of a turtle, but with half the top shell missingat the forward end for the landing pad, and for arguements sake let us call this ship the 'Turtle' for now). The upper deck, or merchant deck, at the fore is the aforementioned landing pad that can lead into a small centrally located airlock, possibly with suit access or escape pods incase of emergancies, which leads into the aft section of the upper deck which can be the merchant area. Having a small foyer with seating in the middle, for when in quantum or in atmostpheric flight, with two market stalls flanking either side of said foyer where the captain has some choice in what shops can be added (keeping it as small as possible means it cannot compete with the larger vessels, but keeps down the crew numbers, cost and size). At the extreme aft of the merchant area can be a bar/diner where players can purchase foods etc, maybe even re-stock their ships too?. Between the shops and the bar on either side of the ship could be other airlocks leading to docking collars, allowing for larger vessels to dock for a while. Weapons can be 2x size 5 turrets, with 2x size 4 mounts, one placed above the airlock entrance facing the landing pad (incase of 'emergancies') and one below the ship at the fore which can either be controlled by the pilot or remotely operated (possibly both remotely operated), and no missiles present. The turrets are mostly for point defense, allowing the quick ish quantum drive to GTFO. Maybe only 1x medium shield, emphasising the run away tactics, or for merchants to pay for escorts. So far so good, but to add some extra insentives, other than smaller crew and less operating costs, at the expense of defensive power and economic power which the larger merchant vessels allow, perhaps make two interesting additions of an inn and shielded conference room?. In the bar/diner could it be possible to add on bedrooms (small cubicals with nothing more than beds, maybe a small table at the far end that utilises the bed as a chair for it), and set it up so that players can purchase a room for a set amount of time?. The other is a 'borrowed' (or stolen) idea from the Privateer, which would be the shielded room for black market deals. In this vessel it could be as simple room with a desk, 3 chairs and enough room for 2-4 SCU of cargo?, placed in the lower deck area, and put it behind a concealed door like on the Mercury star runner. One last addition, perhaps allow a small amount of refuelling to occur?, this way the ship may lie between jump points that smaller fighters or ships with limited jump capabilities may refuel at?. Though I would say this feature may be better implemented on a different vessel all together. Again I have no idea if this is a good idea, or if this is already a concept, or if I just look silly now. I havent even played the game yet so maybe I should just shut up, but I have high hopes!. Additional: Had posted this in a different thread, though realised this one has a ship catagory!, and if modding existing ships like the Cat or Carrack could achieve the same then ignore all this!. However I do think ships dedicated to specific jobs would be preferable as modding would have downsides (Cat not being able to operate in space w/h docking collar add on etc), would like to hear any more ideas or existing ideas I may have missed! ... also maybe a better name plus which sort of design style should it follow, like MISC or Drake Interplanetary.