I'd also like to point out to the people saying "If Independent capital ships are restricted then factionalized capital ships should be also" that most, if not all factions already restrict capital ship usage. The LR- for example only has about 3 or 4 Gunboats, 2 or 3 Dessies and no battleships. I can only recall ever seeing a couple of [LN] Gunboats or Cruisers as well. I suspect this might also be the cause of a large amount of independent capital ships. Because of the heavy restrictions factions have on their capital ships, many players just use the easier alternative of going independent to get their desired ship straight away. A lot of players in the [LN] that I know also have an LNS independent Gunboat or Cruiser or some other capital ship on the side.