Exactly; the XC already pushes the Behemoth hull to the limit. Any larger cargo capacities will require a new model. Docking with stations could still be permitted by making the new craft wider; Behemoths have a squarish cross section, but docking bays are rectangular.

I want to see more diverse manufacturing in the game, but I'm not a fan of adding a moth variant for this purpose. I personally think 200 cube is ample. for a non capital ship since a trident currently only holds the equivalent of 4. Bottom line, unless I can issue the manufactured behemoth commands or it is cheaply insured, I'm not going to haul a bunch of crap just to have a ship to haul crap.

Umn... No 3 s port fighter ships have been suggested in this thread or by the author of the OP. Since UIT is a trade UNION and not a real nation in the sense of Itani or Serco, and the reality that we are really nothing more than our ships in game, my argument is that the premier UIT ship should be a trade class vessel. The OP simply wants to restrict the current premier trade ship - the XC to UIT. Rin had a good suggestion to which, I added my 2 cents if we are going to consider adding a new variant. Also, the OP has nothing to do with defending against piracy.

My 2 cents based on my underlying view that if we are adding content, that that content should be a step forward in an arms race. With the exception of filling mid and early level areas that are under serviced, which is not the case here.

Shields don't help npc tridents because npc tridents are not intelligent. Player trident shields don't exist yet, so really the topic is premature.

Let's make it small, awesome turbo drain, 3 small ports, and shrink the cargo to 2 cu. Tridents are better haulers anyway.