Merchantman fan club theorycrafting pow-wow...

[Han Burgundy]

So I've been doing some thinking on the Banu Merchantman, and I would like to hear your guys and gals' juiciest theorycraftings on it.

How do you plan to use it?

How do you plan to pay the bills?

Who is gonna crew it?

What is your ultimate quest, and how will this ship help you on your journey?

What do you hope you can DO with your Merchantman?

As for me? I plan on using my Merchantman as my home among the stars. Sure, there's a crap ton of cargo space and I can use a good portion of it to generate some capital, but it will mainly be used to store my own goodies. What activities do I plan to DO with this alien marvel of machinery at my disposal? I'm the shop that never sleeps. I'm the shop that will come to you; or through you. I'm the shop that can have ANYTHING in stock...for the right price. If what you want belongs to someone else? Well, if you pay me what I ask; That's their problem. Need to sneak an assassin into a heavily guarded port? Well my ship has plenty of nooks and crannies for them to disappear into; and EVERY port loves seeing a merchantman roll through. Best case scenario? CIG implements a good ID spoofer mechanic and I can put on my spooky skull helmet at night to...ahem...restock the store.

Things to consider:

• Based on recent revelations about the new interior ship-in-ship landing system; Small pocket carrier? (2 hornets max? One can desperately pray)
• Huge-ass forward guns still a thing? Considering its now apparently the "Banu Capital ship", maybe it will have a weapon system worthy of the classification?
• Living area. This is supposed to be a generational ship. Expect to see roomy quarters and opulent surroundings.
• Off-human vibe. This ship is going to take a bit of getting used to, as far as aesthetics go. That's part of its charm though, is it not?
• This baby is HUGE, so she's gonna be thir$ty.
• When pirates pick you up on their scopes, all they will see is a pinata to pop. (Hope you grabbed a defender!)
• Are the alien toilets going to be weird on your junk?

What are your thoughts/ideas?

 

[Xian-Luc Picard]

Cutlass Black = Legitimate delivery truck.

 

[supitza]

Are the alien toilets going to be weird on your junk?

Realism, fidelity.

 

[Bruce]

• Living area. This is supposed to be a generational ship. Expect to see roomy quarters and opulent surroundings.

I intend to shoot from the main gun (as long as someone allows me), and I have a strong objection on "roomy quarters and opulent surroundings" ... it is supposed to be a generational ship indeed, so no enterntainment outside of marketplace and very tiny quarters with one bed per family ( ok, comfy one). There has to be many many kids to support generational ship :)

 

[Han Burgundy]

I intend to shoot from the main gun (as long as someone allows me), and I have a strong objection on "roomy quarters and opulent surroundings" ... it is supposed to be a generational ship indeed, so no enterntainment outside of marketplace and very tiny quarters with one bed per family ( ok, comfy one). There has to be many many kids to support generational ship :slight_smile:

I see what you're saying, but if you look into the shear size increase (acording to disco's vague report) and the Banu's mentality on self worth and materialism; it starts to become more likely that they would be showy in the number one most prized asset aboard a ship, which is open space.

The concept they revealed of the hallway, for example, seems much wider than necessary and I would suspect that if the crew quarters are shared (which is reasonably likely) the Captain's quarters will at least be pretty over the top. Banu are ALL about living in the moment, and who doesnt want to be as comfy as possible? Generational ship, to me, means it isnt simply a workhorse maximized for profit. It's home.

 

[Kaz]

I do own the ship, but atm i have no other plans for it than to use it as a cargo hauler. Im looking forward to more info about it, so my plans for it will most likely change in the future :)

 

[Bruce]

I also hope it will be luxury "banu style" ... just wasn't able to resist making a joke about "generational". And I still remember the awful vision of "luxury" in Phoenix :)

 

[Han Burgundy]

I also hope it will be luxury "banu style" ... just wasn't able to resist making a joke about "generational". And I still remember the awful vision of "luxury" in Phoenix :slight_smile:

Ugh, a thousand times yes. I want the aesthetics to be a tad uncomfortable or disorienting to any players that I welcome aboard for the first time. I want CIG to continue with what they had going on the defender with the weird cabinets that close with those weird alien-y flap thingys. Its unnerving and the proportions are a tad off for human size. It's just so....alien.

 

[Beerjerker]

Are the alien toilets going to be weird on your junk?

If by "weird" you mean fantastic, yes.

Not that I want to rain on your parade, I've come to doubt the combat capabilities of the MM. With a lot of the new boats becoming more specialized, and the new lore about the Banu being particularly inclined towards specialization, I'd expect the MM to become more of a one-trick-pony rather than less of one.
If it can carry a Defender, I'd expect some sort of design to prevent it from carrying any other fighter. It will likely still be tanky, at least in the same way the Defender is supposed to be, big honkin' shields, and maybe it will have kewl alien blasters. But I doubt it will hang in a fight with anything that is specifically meant for fighting.
The impression I got from the last word about it was that it will probably be more comparable to the 890Jump than anything else. A luxury status symbol full of luxury status symbols. What will keep it from becoming pirate booty is that if you pirate it, who else will purchase your booty?

 

[Dragonslaya54]

How do you plan to use it?

How do you plan to pay the bills?

Who is gonna crew it?

What is your ultimate quest, and how will this ship help you on your journey?

What do you hope you can DO with your Merchantman?

1. crash it
2. burn it
3. An owl, a duck, and a few hundred drunken warriors
4. My ultimate quest is to explore every part of the SC universe, it will help me by making me get some serious dough in my pocket, and I don't mean money, I mean dough that's serious.
5. Make it my personal home for people to trash and trade my stuff in style.

 

[Han Burgundy]

If by "weird" you mean fantastic, yes.

Not that I want to rain on your parade, I've come to doubt the combat capabilities of the MM. With a lot of the new boats becoming more specialized, and the new lore about the Banu being particularly inclined towards specialization, I'd expect the MM to become more of a one-trick-pony rather than less of one.
If it can carry a Defender, I'd expect some sort of design to prevent it from carrying any other fighter. It will likely still be tanky, at least in the same way the Defender is supposed to be, big honkin' shields, and maybe it will have kewl alien blasters. But I doubt it will hang in a fight with anything that is specifically meant for fighting.
The impression I got from the last word about it was that it will probably be more comparable to the 890Jump than anything else. A luxury status symbol full of luxury status symbols. What will keep it from becoming pirate booty is that if you pirate it, who else will purchase your booty?

Yeah, even though the BMM was specifically advertised as the choice ship in the Banu mutual defense militia thing, I dont expect it will be able to wipe the floor with an enemy force. I foresee it being used as more of a guns-forward blockade running type deal. Defenders fly out ahead to intercept the enemy's fighters, and the BMM uses her big ole cannons to blast a hole in the biggest thing standing in their way. This is why theory crafting is fun! We get to build an imaginary ship in our heads that the real one will never live up to! Disappointment for everyone! Yaay!

 

[Beerjerker]

Yeah, even though the BMM was specifically advertised as the choice ship in the Banu mutual defense militia thing, I dont expect it will be able to wipe the floor with an enemy force. I foresee it being used as more of a guns-forward blockade running type deal. Defenders fly out ahead to intercept the enemy's fighters, and the BMM uses her big ole cannons to blast a hole in the biggest thing standing in their way. This is why theory crafting is fun! We get to build an imaginary ship in our heads that the real one will never live up to! Disappointment for everyone! Yaay!

Hang in there! The alien toilets will make up for it.

 

[Floating Cloud]

Butuz has shown us the way. I plan to stay true to his vision:

Banu Merchantman, now with 42% more room to party.

 

[Stevetank]

Gonna use my BMM strickly for dogfighting. I'll be the best.

 

[Printimus]

I plan on being a shitty stock boy to replenish the shelves in the store at a slow and lazy rate working for minimum wage cause my boss is an asshole and i hate the world/universe, whatever.

 

[Printimus]

Butuz has shown us the way. I plan to stay true to his vision:

Banu Merchantman, now with 42% more room to party.

please tell me you have more cutaways of other ships with beautiful descriptions of parts and pieces?
this thing is fucking amazing.

 

[Floating Cloud]

please tell me you have more cutaways of other ships with beautiful descriptions of parts and pieces?
this thing is fucking amazing.

Butuz's work :)

 

[BUTUZ]

Butuz has shown us the way. I plan to stay true to his vision:

Banu Merchantman, now with 42% more room to party.

I didn't make that picture. But I approve 110%!! Also, I will take all of the hits, likes, subscribers and monetisation because I'm not scared of anyone.

 

[Kenlee]

I dream of being able to modify the Bottom spike of the Merchantman and turn it into an Executioner's Sword. The idea is to simply Ram other ships with that thing and slice them in half.

View: https://youtu.be/ItQPxsEhuAI?t=91
= It would have to work something like this but in much larger scale.
There's your Q-ship..

 

[DirectorGunner]

There was a sci-fi show in the 90s where this ship the cast got on was kind of a living ship.. the toilets had a tongue to lick your ass after you pooped. Forgot it's name so can't find any meme's of the toilet... but.. if the Banu toilets are anything alike.. humans are likely gonna have a good time.