So I keep thinking about the Corsair, but honestly, owning a Carrack and the StarRunner, the Corsair would be redundant, no? Or does she double as a gunship with those forward facing guns? That's a lot of hate, lol.
I think it was a bit of a mistake to label the Corsair as an "exploration ship". It seems much more in line with the Drake's answer to the Constellation - a multi-role freighter, but with a
much heavier emphasis on forward firepower.
Can you explore with it? Oh absolutely, all you need is some good fuel tanks and a decent scanner. Only Drake would think to add quadruple S5 mounts, twin S4 mounts, 8 S3 missiles, and a trio of S2 turrets to cover the side and rear arcs.
To me it's much more a daily flyer than a dedicated explorer, and hits the sweet spot on crew requirements, with 4 people needed to fill all the turrets and a max of 5 if you want a co-pilot/gunner for your dakka array. In my fleet it's my "super Cutlass" when I need more cargo space or dakka delivered, but don't want to commit to bringing out the Caterpillar which will need some buddies in fighters to help me out most likely.
Mercury will be faster and have more cargo room, in addition to its smuggling potential and data storage/hacking hardware. But lacks in offense/defense hardcore comparatively.
Carrack will be much more durable and self-reliant in addition to having better/more powerful exploration equipment, but is also over twice the size and thrice the cost, with not substantially more boom, since it's weapons are geared towards self-defense.
Corsair is for exploring "Spain vs Aztec" style and leaving full of plunder. They didn't call it the Corsair for nothing!