Leviathan class Supertanker

[Drake]

Correct me if im mistook what I have read so far, the impression I was seeing was this design being a wash because there was no clear reason for its design if the only advantage would be an extra 500 tons of cargo and having to lose all defenses to get it.

Nah, if it was the only ship out there with a 5000 hold, greedy traders would still use it. But the newest version of Discovery (still in beta) has an 'Advanced Train' which has a 5000 hold, but is smaller, more maneuverable, and better armed than the Supertanker had been planned on being. Last I heard, this tanker was HUGE, meaning it certainly wouldn't be very good at traveling through asteroid fields and such things. Anyway, even the densest asteroid fields offer no difficulty to a regular old Large Train. Or, in the new version, the Whale would probably be good for that kind of stuff, if you're willing to sacrifice all weapons save for a CM dropper. 4700 cargo and pretty good (for a transport) maneuverability, unless something has been changed.

And while it would make more sense for a smuggler to fly a freighter, that's just not going to happen. As things stand there's no benefit whatsoever to hauling cargo, contraband or otherwise, in a freighter rather than a transport. Freighters are just there until people get enough cash to upgrade to a transport.