That thing is waay too expensive and has almost no armor for the thrust it's got.
I think it should be 550N. Mostly to combat heavy loads. How about it?

sure lets also give it 1000cu cargo hold and 10 death turrets....

Breazle, your sarcasm is not appreciated. I was not even remotely mentioning cargo space and turrets. FYI, it has none, while the behemoth has 3..

You+Trolling=Fail

I don't really see the need for the XC to be tweaked.

More thrust for the XC is a good idea.

sure, more thrust, slower top speed? That way it handles better but is still deathlike slow. If only more traders used it to cross grey....

i agree with Kierky. the ship specs are not reasonable.

since we're talking about the XC, and behemoths, i'd like to add that if ships were really being built by space dwellers...

* the XC would not be weaponless
* a single pilot could fire any of the available weapon ports, and turrets
* there wouldn't be a reason a small port weapon couldn't be equipped to a large port

Azumi, good idea, how about 150m/s top speed and 550N thrust?

It should not be too slow, or it will be faster to do more trips in the normal moth.

A trade ship that is a trade ship has always been a good idea. If you are trading and need to use weapons you are doing it wrong and are taking unacceptable risks. Route around storms, pay pirates, or hire escorts.

"sure, more thrust, slower top speed? That way it handles better but is still deathlike slow. If only more traders used it to cross grey...."

I agree, 550 thrust would not be bad if the top speed was say 45mps, by the way... I can frequently be found in Grey space in an XC. Some traders actually do go there in XCs... its a risk but, if the pay off is there... so am I.

"* the XC would not be weaponless" Disagreed, its a trade ship and there are plenty of armed trade ships for taking the dodgy runs. If you have a great run from Sedina to Dau... get an escort. VPR does them free, PA will usually help out in escorting or maybe one of the nationalist guilds... hell, a lot of pirates will offer you escort if you pay them instead of running. Besides, hypothetical for you... you are in your armed XC with a more thrust and you encounter FusionBurn in his "Rag o' death, doom and dismemberment"

FB... YARRRR! pay me!!!
You... NEVER PIRATE SCUM!!!
FB... then you DIIIIEEEEEEEEE!!!

The two of you engage in combat... what exactly do think is going to happen here? Do you honestly think an armed XC filled with cargo would even have the remotest hope of even having the idea of the possibility of the inkling of a glimmer of hope that it might have the chance of winning? Or would we just see FB on 100 saying... "Shoulda paid"?

"* a single pilot could fire any of the available weapon ports, and turrets" Agreed, if the weapons are there the pilot should be able to use them.

"* there wouldn't be a reason a small port weapon couldn't be equipped to a large port" Disagree, it can be explained away by power out put... ie, a large ports power out put would fry the weapons electrics, or maybe the ports are part of the ships frame and there for cannot be altered for risk of losing hull integrity? Pick your plausible theory and apply liberally.

I don't think the XC needs any overhaul. The ship performs it's essential function dead on target. It is a large scale cargo vessel, not a nimble fighter.

To that end, increasing speed or thrust would end up making the XC into far more of a fighter role (in terms of maneuverability) than is reasonable for a craft of it's mission statement.

If you wanted to propose a variant of the XC, like an XC (Light) that has decreased armor in favor of more thrust I might be able to get behind it, but the XC "(Standard)" as it is performs it's mission perfectly.
The XC's thrust is only really poor when it's fully loaded, and to that end, it should be. Big-rigs in real-life cannot accelerate very well when they are fully loaded either. XC's are our version of a double trailer big-rig. They aren't heavily armored either to accommodate cargo. As Antz said, if you need weapons/armor on a trade mission then you are doing something wrong.

The whole idea behind the XC is that its been stripped down to make room for the 80 extra cu's of cargo capacity. You want a faster freighter? Use a standard moth.

If you've ever tried hauling 200 ADV rails or Chaos swarms in your XC, you feel the OP's pain. I'm in favor of a thrust bump.

oh come on. the behemoth, XC variant included is not a PVP ship. i'm not suggesting that it be remotely capable of being a PVP ship.

"* the XC would not be weaponless" Disagreed, its a trade ship and there are plenty of armed trade ships for taking the dodgy runs.

Okay, granted this is a game. When trying to put such things into perspective I often think about how it might work in the "real world," assuming some kind of space colonization where there could be hidden dangers lurking around every corner. IN ADDITION TO practically always having an armed escort, I cannot fathom the existing of a purely weaponless ship, whether solely for trade or otherwise. People would without a doubt be requesting a ship upgrade for at least one weapon! Hell, they would weld the weapon onto the side of the ship if they had to, EVEN IF they had an escort.

"* there wouldn't be a reason a small port weapon couldn't be equipped to a large port" Disagree, it can be explained away by power out put... ie, a large ports power out put would fry the weapons electrics, or maybe the ports are part of the ships frame and there for cannot be altered for risk of losing hull integrity? Pick your plausible theory and apply liberally.

These are artificial restrictions based on the assumption that society and technology could not adapt to resolve these issues. This was solved in the 19th century with... modular (gun) components! I have a hard time picturing a society, 2000 years in the future having completely forgotten about modularity. Actually, they haven't quite forgotten about it. That's why we have large and small ports. Of course, a "large" (whether you want to think of this in spatial or power term is moot) could not hope to fit into a small. The small, OTOH would either need a harness (spatial) or a power inverter/modulator.

Okay, granted this is a game... These are artificial restrictions

So glad you figured that out. Now, shut the fuck up already.

The XC doesnt have any ports so why mention them? Take it elsewhere...

The XC does have lousy thrust for its role as a space truck...

It is not well suited (but is great fun) for weapons transport, but performs exceptionally well at ferrying some lighter tradegoods.

" have a hard time picturing a society, 2000 years in the future having completely forgotten about modularity."

I see your point, but lets not forget that 2000 years in the future, all weapons have a velocity lower than an air rifle at worst and a velocity lower than a modern rifle at best!

I'm against this because I wish to bump Ecka's XC around, not letting him dock, /explode, or log while hitting him with a repair gun so he can't die whenever he decides to trade adv. rails in protected space (leaving the only option of paying or dropping cargo).

-Chaakin Tockoa
Good Hunting

XC is a trade tool for already extremely rich traders to become filthy rich.
Its fine as it is. I vote NO.