I wonder if every player brings a NPC along if you could get that number down to 500, and so on... I think it said that the MAX crew number is 1000 players.I can't imagine actually owning one. I mean, I want one. I just wouldn't want to ever take it out. That thing crews, what, 1000 people? I'm pretty sure I heard that in a stream somewhere. This is extremely applicable when it comes to instance size. I know CR said they're moving away from instancing and looking toward a much larger scale, but it would take a 1000% increase in instance size just to provide the most basic gameplay with this beast.
Then there's the cost. My truck sits in my driveway most of the time because it has a ridiculously large engine and gets gas mileage in the single digits. So, my car sees all the miles. The bengal would be a million times worse than that. Not to mention the cost of any NPC crew (having 1000 players on this thing would be impossible to manage), the cost of ordinance, and any repairs needed.
So yep, absolutely. I want one. However, the term "fiscally irresponsible" seems woefully inadequate to describe actually being an owner.
Also, lets say there is 5000 players in an org. 1000(20%) of them are needed for the bengal, but if you, lets say hire something like 700 NPCs, it would cost a fortune(tho i doubt it would be a big impact on the total upkeep of the bengal) , but it wold free you 700 more pilots with their own ships for escort.