Just adding in my 2 UEC as a flag waving member of the Caterpillar fan club.
Caterpillar is shaping up to be the capital ship boarding craft of choice. That front plate? Heavy duty hull cutter. One of the very very few modules we have seen is a
crew compartment, which looks like it could seat 6 boarders very comfortably. With 5 crew, thats 11 boarders with just
one of the Caterpillars modules. Think about if you mixed Crew Quarters and Cargo space modules 50/50, ram an Idris and board it, disable the crew, take the loot, and then either steal the ship or scuttle it.
Caterpillar has also been stated to be
very durable, having "heavier armor than other freighters in its class", and "The offensive capabilities are a little light, but what it lacks in offense it more than makes up for in defensive options. It can take a beating and ask for seconds depending on the option combinations."
Caterpillar suffers a lot from being on the backburner with horribly outdated stats. Even from the beginning, the term "Freelancers evil twin" with no stats at the same price as a Constellation was a hard sell for people, hence why LTI Caterpillars are some of the rarest ships around. A big example of the stats is the fact that there are
clearly 4 main engines, or 2 main engines and 2 very large maneuvering thrusters (a la Cutlass) but the stats still only show one. Stats are constantly in flux, subject to change, etc etc etc. I suspect the weapons loadout on the Caterpillar will be buffed a bit in comparison to the Constellation, maybe an extra turret or something to compensate for the lack of missiles galore the Connie posseses.
Caterpillar, to me, is not really
intended to be a merchant vessel, although it will probably shine in that role if equipped for it. (I can see a Caterpillar being a very good high risk cargo hauler, due to the defensive options + detachable command center) To me, it seems more to be a support/loot ship for pirate groups, which to me sounds awesome.
The main thing that will make or break the Caterpillar is the modularity. If it's anything like
this: I will be giddy with excitement (although I would personally love to see a fueling module included so the Caterpillar can refuel fighters like the Starfarer, albeit less effectively). The idea of buying a bunch of modules, and swapping out the same hull to be a tanker, freight hauler, piracy support ship, boarding craft, SAR vessel, etc etc just sounds amazing to me, and a real asset for TEST to have a few of since they'd be so flexible.
If its just 2-3 bland modules, Caterpillar had better have some damn fine redeeming qualities.
On a side note I kinda doubt the Banu MM will have 6000 FUs of space when its finally modeled and the ship stats are "final". Hull C has 9000, and its over 2x as long.
