- Proposal
- I propose that the Y-8 Mining Ship, known and being infamous for being a cheap POB ship, be graduated to a full on Gunship.
- Justification
- The Y-8 Mining Ship has a mass of 5 million, Pilot operated guns, Crew operated guns, TWO Co-pilot seats, and Multiple floors require elevator usage. It is all but mechanically already a budget Gunship. It has a massive hitbox, flies like a space truck (Because it is), and still is unable to use Gunship equipment such as shield/armor/capacitors. The Ship itself is a poor POB in any form of PVP and is certainly outclassed by Gunships even if it should be upgraded.
It is, however, a good starter Gunship for groups of friends or people working on duty grinds for better Gunship schematics and decently expensive to kit out. This would also, thanks to needing Gunship parts, increase sales of those particular parts for Shipwrights as a general plus. POB Parts would take less of a hit since POB Weapons and Engines already go into Gunships.
- Motivation
- My motivation is to increase the usage and prevalence of a ship that is often underused and underappreciated. Increase the sales and appreciation of Gunship Parts. Increase the ease of Poors and people new to space to get into space with budget options earned through quests. One of my earliest SWG Memories was being dragged along in a POB which truly sparked my intense love for the game, and a proper Gunship for a full group of friends would be amazing to see in use. As it sits, it is outclassed by POBS -and- Gunships as its array of guns is harder to keep up at a high overload with only a POB Capacitor. It is, reiterating, a huge target requiring better shields that only the smaller Gunships have. It desperately needs love as a vessel and I hope to convince the player base of its' usefulness as a Gunship Over POB.
The Y-8 is less efficient at mining than a starship, a less efficient POB, and has the potential to be a Decent (Even if outclassed) Gunship. Let it at the very least be more useful. Yes it functions, yes with a crew it can mine just fine, but as a POB it is simply some weirdly lacking in-between of a true POB and Gunship.