I dont want a teradon, no dock, 22 turrets. Who knows 22 people to make that work that will all gather somewhere for me to /gunner invite

The reason they have to be balanced in this way is because capital ships are terrible...

One powerful ship, The Goliath, de-balanced the whole game by having more than one gun. Now I already know what you're thinking "Why not just make the surrounding capitals ships that the goliath so easily preyed on powerful enough to defend themselves" Well because that would make fighting a Trident, Hive Queen, Leviathan or Constellation too difficult for someone to manage in a small ship even for multiple pilots and people quite like how everything in VO can be accomplished by a solo pilot. Making everything as good as the Goliath was would take more developer time as well.

I'm beginning to think that wishing on a star that capital ships were better than small ships at anything other than repairs and hauling is a waste of time. They won't put turrets into pilot control, they won't add more than one front facing weapon and god no, they are not going to give you a Terradon. The Goliath, thanks to a cargo buff can now outperform an XC... So now let's put some thought into the Capella, if you want the Trident Light Freighter to be a warship, like let's say a Frigate then keep up the suggestions but at this point we know it's not going to happen.

Lol it had 8 guns of course that was nuts if not briefly amusing.

Gol is still pretty effective due to its ability and turret arrangement just want an actual gun made for a cap ship

No more common L & S ports on capships. They are too versatile and can accommodate a range of combos that can break the balance.
Create capship specific L & S ports and adequate cap ship weapons that can be mounted on them.

https://www.vendetta-online.com/x/msgboard/1/33096?page=4#388366