allow captains to exchange turrets with turrets in the cargo bay... say top front rail for pcb in cargo. A time penalty could be applied before the turret swap becomes active. this would give commanders and captains more options for changing strategic loadouts in battle and between battlles.

Given the currently limited number of capitol docks, it might be worthwhile if the time penalty is sufficiently long. How long though, I dunno, to take a guess at it, 5 minutes (the current shield regeneration time).

Shields should drop for this.
+1

Interesting idea about the shields, this means the ship will probably withdraw from battle while the change is in progress. I agree there should be a waiting period as suggested above.

so, csgno1, starblazzz, and look.... no hands all agree to +1 with time constraint... make it so :) incarnate my friend

So, just to recap:

Add the ability to change turret loadout during flight, on capships.
- Swapping any turret would drop shields for five minutes, and any turret(s) being swapped would be disabled for five minutes from the time of respective swap engagement.
- If multiple turrets were being swapped (in succession), the shield-down-timer would reset to 5 minutes from the most recent turret swap.

It sounds like a reasonable balance between vulnerability and inconvenience.

beats flyimg for 30mins just to add a single turret switch

+1 but include the front port as well

+1

I didn't look at this thread before because I thought "that would be unfair".. but now that I read it.. sheilds dropping for 5mins is a perfect trade-off.. and still faster than driving all the way!

+1 sounds good

+1