Agreed, making it weaker than any other gb is NOT the way to go. From the looks of things its already a huge target, 8 guns i think would be fine, 4 on each side. Its not like this thing will be able to dodge much, it looks like its based on armor and rugged design rather than agility.
Also, jinx, i agree with the others, perhaps make a slit-cockpit rather than the window? it DOES seem a bit fragile to hold those 3 tiny sensors
That's a great model for a Civilian Gunboat Jinx, your statement that it is less militarized and more space for living quarters I think is just about spot on.
Now about the people saying it should be made by the Junkers. First off we don't even let Non-Junkers touch the Salvager which isn't even a full gunboat. Why would we let people us a gunboat we made? Not to mention the Xenos would love to get their hands on a gunboat. Making the Junkers build it would make it quite hard for the Xenos to get them.
I would say make it a generic contractor like Borderworlds or Renzu. This contractor should sell Military Styled ships for Civilians. Like say military is using a M-16 but the Civilian Version is the AR-15. Many companies make both but this company should specialize in Civilian Class Military Type Vessels.
Going to randomly toss a name out there too. "Blackwater Fabrications" We all know about the Blackwater Mercenaries so there is the Merc/Civilian Part then Fabrications which is construction.
"The Thunderbird heavy gunboat design was originally created and produced by DSE for high-level corporate escorts or personnel transport. The company's outsourcing of "minor" ship construction work to shipyards in Rheinland and Kusari resulted in the spread of this vessel to the burgeoning markets either house. The houses both found that the design became quickly popular - among miners looking for a ship sturdy enough to survive the asteroid fields and pirate attacks, rich civilians looking for a ship more prestigious and safe than the Armoured Transport to fly, and corporations looking for a very imposing pirate deterrent - and soon DSE's engineers cheapened the Thunderbird's design enough to allow for easy mass production. Some high-level clients were lost in this move, but the overall gain of lower-level purchasers far outweighed that loss.
The war between Liberty and Rheinland in 817 did not even stop the production of this vessel, as the need for it - although it was somewhat aged by this time - was still high enough to warrant Rheinland's continued production of the ships without the direct oversight of DSE, perhaps because Bretonia purchased these gunboats from Rheinland, due to the small size of Liberty's own facilities for producing this vessel. Quite effectively, it can be found on the open market in any house, and it is not even uncommon to see unlawful groups fielding these gunboats in their ranks - probably something that would make the DSE engineering roll over in their burial-pods.
It remains a sturdy and popular design, a stocky and powerful workhorse for a man with money."