First of all, I think we have both coming, but I am not sure either is going to have some of the stats we expect (I don't expect the cutter to be as speedy as it says for instance)
That said, based on the little information we do have, here is what I am going to theorycraft now. NOTE, this is little more than a wild ass guess.
DRAKE CUTTER
The Drake Cutter is going to the the LTI token of the show. One type of "cutter" was a small boat that was attached/stacked on the deck of a larger boat. If indeed the Drake Cutter is a smaller ship (and the placement of three of them in the sunken center of the smaller side showrooms seems to indicate that to me), then I have a few theories which I will list in order of probability.
1) It's a small runabout similar in size to the Pisces. This is probably the most substantiated. - certainty - 90 percent.
2) It's probably a direct to flyable ship.- certainty - 85 percent.
3) It's probably fairly fast - less substantiated- certainty - 60 percent.
4) It might have a docking port allowing it to be attached to the airlocks of ships similar to the legionnaire. This could allow it to attach to ships like the Corsair for use in exploring nearby planets (thinking attaching to the top deck, which is why they really have the elevator on the Corsair going to the roof), or for transporting boarding crews over to "soft death" ships for a boarding action. This would give a second "legionnaire" type ship. Since CIG is known for having multiple ships fill a single role, and since Drake does not have a ship for boarding, I highly suspect that CIG might use this opportunity to expand the number of ships that can attached to an airlock and board another ship. This is the type of ship a pirate might use as opposed to a military vessel which in lore, would be harder for pirate groups to acquire, while Drake seems to sell to anyone with credits. If this is the case, Drake will almost certainly call it a "rescue craft for helping crews of disabled ships"- certainty - 20 percent.
5) WILD SPECULATION, ALMOST CERTAINLY NOT CORRECT - it could be used as an alternative to the Caterpillar "command module". The main reason I am discounting this (but still semi-hoping for it) is that the main engine seen in the video seems to be on the starboard side. which is the same side as the airlock would be on the command module. Maybe the image is flipped, or the front is to the right in the IAE video where Mr. Arden is reaching up and pointing to the new ship. If that is the case, it could still be an alternative command module, but I doubt it. - certainty - 5 percent.
6) it could attach to a larger ship and then transport them a short distance away, even without the larger ship being powered up, allowing for people to take soft killed targets to a nearby station for repair/inclusion in their own fleet.- certainty - 0.1 percent.
Personally, I think 1 and 2 are the most supported by the data we have. 3 is also a possibility, but we need to temper our expectations over what is "fast" as the new master mode is coming down the pipe and this may be the first ship to reflect those new speeds. 4 and 5 are much less likely, but 4 is more likely than 5, 6 seems to step on the SRV role, so I an seriously discounting it, but it would also explain that overly large thruster. I am thinking Large ships and smaller for 6, and only those with airlocks.
RSI GALAXY
The RSI Galaxy is probably going to be a larger ship, but it is unknown just how large it is going to be. With a name like the Galaxy, it's probably a larger ship, but it's almost certainly smaller than the upcoming Polaris. It's probably also larger than the Aurora. (Yep, I am going to hedge my bets here). With CIG talking about leaks from powerpoint presentations, the Galaxy FEELS like it was probably the leaked information. Of course, I may be wrong and both were "leaked" from work papers and they are both incorrect. With it being included in the hologram area of the show, size is much less certain, as is the role. Based on that and all of CIG's previous statements/ship design changes over the years, much of what I am going to speculate is going to be about what it is not vs what it is.
What it is not:
1) It's probably not the upcoming RSI mining ship. - certainty - 99 percent.
2) It's probably not going to be modular. The way the ship was presented in the slide made it sound like this is something that was being proposed, not something that was finished (all variants would have been listed if it was fully concepted and would not have an "expand in the future" rider attached to it). Also, having a lot of variants would mean that people could buy a single ship and swap out modules, which in theory would be much cheaper. This would mean that people would be melting/not buying their Starfarer, their Cat, their Phoenix, Star Liner etc. This would be a huge blow to CIG as these are some of their most expensive ships- certainty - 98 percent.
3) It MAY have variants, but I doubt it. Since RSI has the Apollo, I am going to discount a medical ship. It could have a refueling variant, but I suspect the Vulcan is still going to be the small refueling ship and it's too similar in size to the Starfarer. RSI also has the Phoenix as it's VIP transport and I doubt the would want to compete too closely with the 600i Touring. - certainty - 60 percent.
What it might be:
1) CIG has three major ship lines that make money hand over fist. Exploration, Combat, and Cargo. Therefore, I expect it to be one of those three. - certainty - 50 percent. (uncertainly exists as it might be a refining ship, or some other ship outside the big three)
2) For a combat ship, I think it would depend on the size of the ship. With the Perseus having 4 S6 guns and the Polaris having S10 torpedoes, I would expect this to be either a competitor to the hammerhead (anti-fighter ship) with lots of turrets, or maybe even a big gun ship with maybe a S8 Spinal weapon as a main weapon and then some S3 or S4 turrets for defense. - certainty - 20 percent.
3) If they go with non-dedicated combat, then I think RSI goes back to a more "jack of all trades" and goes the upgrades/upsized Constellation route. 2- Size 3 shields, or even a capital shield(this is one of the reasons I am discounting the "powerpoint"...the connie already has a single S3 shield), 3-4 turrets with 2xS5 weapons. 30-40 S3 missiles, 250-350 cargo, and some scanners for "exploration" I would also expect it to be able to carry a large vehicle (Spartan sized) in place of some of that cargo. If they don't have a small snub hangar, then I would expect significant scanning capability, both short and long range. This would be a long range ship with the ability to find and record new resources in both "safe" and hostile areas- certainty - 20 percent.
4) CIG might go in a whole new direction and introduce the large "science vessel" ship. Right now, we have a Reliant Sen as a small science vessel, and the Endeavour as a the capital science vessel. There is a need for a few "between" ships in the science area. I could see RSI making a Science and Research vessel in the 90-125m range. Some weapons, some cargo, a medical bay, and science labs. - certainty - 5 percent.
