The Liners...........

[Dab]

I have to agree with this. The liners are perfectly balanced as they are. With their current cargo and firepower, they fit the role of a larger Armoured Transport. More cargo, larger size, and a little less in firepower.

Some called them overpowered, but they are perfectly balanced with other ships. They have the firepower to fight off most fighters, which they should for the reasons Nexus posted here. They have the firepower to fight off a GB long enough to flee, but not enough to kill most GBs. Nexus can testify to that, as I destroyed his, and another's Prison Liners a the same time with a RH GB.

In all the time I've flown the Adamantine (Luxury Liner) I've been able to successfully kill about three gunboats out of over twenty that have attacked me. Though I was able to fight well enough to run away without dieing (Barely.. Ask Tank, I got away from a Rogue GB and Taiiden bomber with no bots/batts and about 2 bars of hull left, and I was helped by a Rheinland Cruiser too.) in most cases.

And I've never been able to destroy more than one cruiser (destroyer-class) and that was mostly because of surprise and the fact that the enemy had no bots/batts of his own. I won through that one with only about 220 bots left, no batts and my hull half way down. The Kusari Destroyer's loadout wasn't finished yet either. I've fought about 4 cruisers in the Adamantine (they didn't pirate, I engaged first as per my in-game RP for that character) and that under-armed and under-defended Kusari Destroyer was the only one I've been able to beat. The only one I was ever able to take beyond half hull even.

Again; In this way the liners fit perfectly the role of the larger version of an Armoured transport which is a class of ship we really need. I use that liner to do the dangerous Omega-49 - New Tokyo route where I have to fly through UOG territory, and Tau-31 which is almost always littered with pirates and sometimes a place of Phantom raids. And also a possibility of SF interdiction due to the fact that I'm taking the Deuterium to Kusari, something the Bretonians don't want happening.

Then there is the cases that Nexus uses them for. Prison liners used to transport slaves (the actual commodity next version) and other contraband. The extra armor and firepower is necessary to fight your way away from the lawful forces that are bound to try taking you out.

Also, the liners are bigger than ANY cruiser in the game, save perhaps the Rheinland cruiser. Its shorter (in height) than most (except the Liberty Cruiser and Outcast one) and definitely longer than any of them. And its easily twice the size of the Large Train. With all that extra room, it should definitely have place for extra power to fuel gunboat-grade weaponry.

@Igiss; I'm not suggesting, nor do I think anyone else is, that you return ALL the turret mounts to GB turrets. We just want the liners in 4.84 to be the same as the ones in 4.83. Maybe a small cargo increase since the Adv. Train is coming in, but not anything else, and not a large increase. Example; 5 GB turrets and 6 Transport turrets for the Luxury Liner. Maybe 7-8 GB turrets for the prison liner, to reflect the fact that its more military-inclined and use to transport people that most pirates will attempt to rescue (or lawfuls, if the prison liner is used to transport slaves).

Personally, I think that increasing the cargo size and removing all GB turrets will make the liners unused. The only ones using it will be the ones that are between the stage of transport and train, and lack the money to move up to a better ship. All we would see is Container Transports (as they would now have more firepower than the Liners) and Adv. Trains.

---