I think the mods are probably going to be limited by what ports show up on the ship. So only weapons ports can take weapons, you need an equipment port for various sorts of equipment, etc. This has me worried, since I want to put the Warlock's EMP Generator in the back of a Reliant, but there are no equipping ports in cargo areas. So what is with that? I dunno. I think there will be a lot of folks complain that they can't use cargo area for equipment when they want to build their ships, but OTOH if there aren't specific restrictions people will build designs that are so obviously better that their design will replace others that are similar, and we'll have a lack of variety. Especially note the interest in combining the Ghost and Tracker qualities. If you can do that, no one will own either of these separately. All sneaky Hornets will be Ghost/Trackers.
If I had my druthers, I'd combine the Tracker, Ghost and EMP functions all in a Reliant, and will still try if they'll let me. I'm not betting on it.
I think what you are talking is never going to be possible, however, turning a regular hornet into a hornet ghost should work via upgrades, you simply buy and install the Ghosts sensor array, im not saying its going to be as good as a straight ghost, but it can perform the job, you also might be able to put void armor or a stealth coating on the base hornet, effectively turning it into a ghost, but to be able to combine 3 ships into one i dont see happening, even then it will be balanced. I like using the Aquila for this.
The Aquila has extra fuel tanks, and a jump point scanner which replace a bunch of if not almost all of the missiles, you also have the long range scanner which is where the top turret normally is. I'm pretty sure CIG has state you can remove these items and put the base model stuff back on if you want, so for example, i remove the fuel tanks, i will be able to put missile rack back on and get closer to the andromeda's missile quantity, but lets say im going out a long ways with no refuel support, but need some more firepower, ok, put the fuel tanks back on, but pop the long range scanner off so i can have a second turret. You cant put one set of abilities on the ship without sacrificing the others.
In regards to the freelancer mentioned earlier, engines can be swapped, we know this already, thats why almost no ship comes with its max size engine. so you could put the cargo engines on the base freelancer, and you also would be able to put the MIS missile racks on, as they simply reduce the amount of cargo you can carry, same with the DURp's sensors and fuel tanks, but for the fuel tanks you have to sacrafice missiles, and for sensors you are probably lowering your cargo capacity. you have to give up certain areas.
Its exactly the reason i went with an aquila, it can be turned back into a base model. However, it will never be able to be 100% a phoenix, because it lacks the Capital pylon, and i dont see those being removable/able to be added. However i could put the luxury items into the aquila if i wanted.
