Trading Faction

[marauder]

Actually, no I don't think so. They might build the ships, but how do they expect to cover up the fact that their using a ship meant for the military?

Plus then you have to think, where are they going to keep such a ship, somewhere out of sight and away from prying eyes would be a start, so thats well out of kusari space.

Actually I think you'd be fine using just the transport and civilian fighters, the starblazer is an evil little ship in the right hands, with a debilitator and three civilian lasers it won't do much damage but it can survive just by dodging.

Also, you don't need to kill a pirate to stop them getting your cargo, having to duel a LF that you can't hit will frustrate the pirate and cause them to leave you alone, hopefully.

So when you do start this faction I'd suggest the following as a ship list:

Escort fighters:

Starblazers for house systems, griffens for borderworlds.

Trading ships:

Bumblebee for kusari trade routes,
Transports for other house systems,
Armoured transport for borderworlds.

Reasons:

Starblazer in house systems, the local police should be more then willing to help out a trader in trouble.

Griffen, the extra armour will come in useful for the radiation cloud around planet kurile and the other dangers of the borderworlds.

Bumblebee in kusari, in house trade routes should be quick and easy, so a ship that can at least stall a pirate until the police show up is a must.

Transports to other houses, the larger cargo bay and armour means it should be able to get the cargo to the destination, minus an escort possibly...

Armoured transport for the borderworlds, the name says it all, plus it has enough firepower to help it's escorts to repel any pirates.

But thats just how and why I'd do it, I have no intention of running or starting a faction, not enough time to devote to it.