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[happycrow]

Starliner being a carrier feels redundant considering Colossus was already made into a carrier

Similar role, absolutely, but different build-out. Colossus gets two wings (subpar for its size for certain, but it can also haul your stuff, so... compromises) but not a ton of personnel. For a vehicle boasting a ground support package, its total marine complement is startlingly low. Starliner would only have room for one wing, but could hold a LOT of personnel, making it split the difference between a Valkyrie and a Colossus. For a random raid to a small location you wouldn't need the Starliner, but if you want the numbers required, for example, to hit the Sindies hard, ~100 gunsels ain't cutting it.

[Fotsvamp]

The Shepard(P) With a system like the current Tempest, suicide drones!

[Killer of Fate]

Starliner being a carrier feels redundant considering Colossus was already made into a carrier

Similar role, absolutely, but different build-out. Colossus gets two wings (subpar for its size for certain, but it can also haul your stuff, so... compromises) but not a ton of personnel. For a vehicle boasting a ground support package, its total marine complement is startlingly low. Starliner would only have room for one wing, but could hold a LOT of personnel, making it split the difference between a Valkyrie and a Colossus. For a random raid to a small location you wouldn't need the Starliner, but if you want the numbers required, for example, to hit the Sindies hard, ~100 gunsels ain't cutting it.

So Colossus but more?
Except less? Cause Colossus has cargo holds and is cheaper. And it has more armour. And is generally more adaptable.

The most I can think of Starliner is it being a science vehicle Pirates use instead of Apogee when they take up missions to explore unknown space from some major faction or indies who use them as corsairs.

Starliner (P) with built-in Surveying Equipment, additional sensors.

Also, while we're on the topic of Starliner. I think it would be more fitting if it had energies instead of ballistics. Considering it's a luxury vehicle. I don't think whatever designer made it would taint it with the disgusting appearance of neoclassical machine guns. I think they would go for the delicate looking laser PDs instead.

Active flares probably too instead of normal ones...

nah, normal flares are pretty too... They need a buff though. But I think I'm making too many wishes at this point...

[Bungee_man]

Ballistic Champion would be a straight improvement over normal Champion, I thought we were moving away from Pirate ships being better/equal than base versions.

They should definitely be side-grades. I don't like the idea of a round of ships that are just straight-up worse than other ships and are never used by any player. D-mods already serve the gameplay purpose of giving the player weak enemies without adding to file size.

As for ballistic Champ being better, not sure I buy that. Midline's big value add is its weapon mount combinations - lots of missiles, yes, but also energy-ballistic pairings that synergize well. HIL+Squall+HVD, for example, is a killer combination on both the Champion and its big brother.

Maybe I'm weird for this but an Apogee (P) might be neat. Strip down the shielding, bolt some armour on it, convert a few of the turret mounts into ballistics and you have a Pirate exploration ship.

I like the idea of pirates having ships that a victim of pirates would likely be fielding. Keep the large energy mount and the missiles, dial down the shield efficiency, and swap the rest for ballistics, maybe taking away some of the mounts in exchange for a more aggressive ship system (jury-rigged plasma burn?), and you've got an Apogee refitted for piracy. Would be fun/dangerous as an SO ship, with weak defenses being its critical flaw.

The Shepard(P) With a system like the current Tempest, suicide drones!

Along the same lines, another great one. Shepherds are common among prospectors, pirates would gather a lot of them, and suicide drones are a natural change to make.

I'd honestly like to have a decent pirate capital. I'm fine with Atlas Mk.II still appearing more frequently, but the occasional red Onslaught or Retribution would be nice to see.

Onslaught (P) would definitely fit well. It feels weird having them be Hegemony-exclusive, given that they're an ancient, universal workhorse ship. Toss them, with high rarity, into major pirate fleets to spice up the later game raids. Not sure what I'd change about them, the Onslaught already has a wealth of different builds, and a shunted Onslaught suits pirates really well. Built-in-at-partial-cost shield shunt might be enough, though I wouldn't oppose stripping some OP and/or mounts in exchange for a fighter bay.

[kaoseth]

I'd honestly like to have a decent pirate capital. I'm fine with Atlas Mk.II still appearing more frequently, but the occasional red Onslaught or Retribution would be nice to see.

Onslaught (P) would definitely fit well. It feels weird having them be Hegemony-exclusive, given that they're an ancient, universal workhorse ship. Toss them, with high rarity, into major pirate fleets to spice up the later game raids. Not sure what I'd change about them, the Onslaught already has a wealth of different builds, and a shunted Onslaught suits pirates really well. Built-in-at-partial-cost shield shunt might be enough, though I wouldn't oppose stripping some OP and/or mounts in exchange for a fighter bay.

I'd agree theme wise, an Onslaught(P) is on brand.  But I'd also think the Hegemony would hunt down and destroy any pirate using one.  Which... 
 
What if there's a story in it?   Alex!  Write up a legend of a pirate using one, add clues lead you around outside the core worlds, eventually to discover the system name, then use the neutron scanner to find it in system.   Hide it near the edge of the map of a randomly selected giant system.  The ship being a XIV with a paint job. 

[Lawrence Master-blaster]

As for ballistic Champ being better, not sure I buy that. Midline's big value add is its weapon mount combinations - lots of missiles, yes, but also energy-ballistic pairings that synergize well. HIL+Squall+HVD, for example, is a killer combination on both the Champion and its big brother.

There is nothing killer about a pressure weapon backed by a pressure weapon backed by a pressure weapon for 25 DP.

Now imagine swapping that HIL for a HAG. That would be borderline OP even without a ship system to boost the damage. Champion doesn't have a large energy mount for "good synergy", it's a spoiler to prevent it from actually being good.

[Lortus]

I would like a big pirate capital so they have some punch later on, or an Atlas carrier conversion. It always made more sense to me to convert the massive storage spaces into carrier spots, instead of just throwing them out.

[Doctorhealsgood]

I would like a big pirate capital so they have some punch later on, or an Atlas carrier conversion. It always made more sense to me to convert the massive storage spaces into carrier spots, instead of just throwing them out.

I mean atlas storage space is mostly on the outside as containers unlike the prometheus where you have a massive hollow space to use as you see fit.

[Bungee_man]

There is nothing killer about a pressure weapon backed by a pressure weapon backed by a pressure weapon for 25 DP.

Now imagine swapping that HIL for a HAG. That would be borderline OP even without a ship system to boost the damage. Champion doesn't have a large energy mount for "good synergy", it's a spoiler to prevent it from actually being good.

I'm not sure I believe that - HIL doing well when backed by kinetic damage is the entire basis for the Executor, after all. Pressure to keep shields up and pressure to disable shields aren't the same thing, and they synergize very well.

That said, if it would be overpowered, you could swap the missile slot for a second large ballistic, and give it something like canister flak instead of a very strong system like AAF.

I'd agree theme wise, an Onslaught(P) is on brand.  But I'd also think the Hegemony would hunt down and destroy any pirate using one.  Which... 
 
What if there's a story in it?   Alex!  Write up a legend of a pirate using one, add clues lead you around outside the core worlds, eventually to discover the system name, then use the neutron scanner to find it in system.   Hide it near the edge of the map of a randomly selected giant system.  The ship being a XIV with a paint job. 

I'm not sure that the Hegemony feels like it has a copyright on its ships - they're just lowtech hulls that serve a common doctrine. In earlier builds, the Luddic Church used them too, among other factions. XIV ships, maybe, that would embarrass them, but the Onslaught is portrayed as the AK-47 of capital ships in the story. They're used by both pirates and Luddic Church fleets in the main menu missions.

I get why the devs changed the major factions' doctrines to use distinct capital ship rosters, they wanted the factions to feel different in combat for gameplay purposes, and I agree that that made the game more fun, but realistically the Onslaught and Dominator aren't "Hegemony ships", they're just ships that are more common in Hegemony fleets. Pirates are fought often enough, and the Onslaught is portrayed uniquely enough, that I think it'd be fine to make an exception in that one case, especially if they're rare and use a pirate-only variant..