Liudeius said:
Each race will have three carriers TO START, all of them can be captured. It might actually be a bad idea to capture a Bengal Carrier rather than a Vanduul. With a Bengal Carrier, you would be attacked by the UEE in safe space, with a Vanduul, I presume you would only be attacked in Vanduul space, which happens anyway.
But more are "being built". (Due to the way the economy functions, ships have build timers. So there, on release, will already be now carriers partially under construction.)
If I remember correctly there were 5 Bengals guarding Earth at any given time, one in the Drydocks.
Bengals could be found as derelicts in space and repaired, though the exact mechanics of how the UEE will interact with these is still being decided [They will not pursue someone who has rebuilt one, but it is unknown as to whether it will be safe to enter UEE space, or whether they'll want you to surrender the Bengal to them.]
Bengals will also likely take an ungodly amount of time to build.
The Vanduul have a nasty habit of self-destructing their ships to stop boarders from getting intel on them. This was revealed in the old site's engineering page for the scythe if memory serves, if not them somewhere.
Stealing a Xi'An carrier would also likely be a bad move, as it would spark a UEE - Xi'An war most likely.
Stealing a Bengal is out of the question, as the UEE will pursue you even into enemy space to get it back, let alone the bounty that'd likely be on your head.
Banu... Maybe. Though their carriers are supposed to be nothing compared to the Bengal, and we know nothing of the race on the other side of the Xi'An as of yet, and even getting to them is ATM impossible due to the Xi'An being very secretive about that side of things and not letting humans into their inner systems.
Getting a carrier will be an act of immense luck, and holding onto it will be nigh on impossible in the long run, unless you are one of the largest guilds and your members are perfectly loyal. Or if CR allows Bengals and such to be flown into UEE space and protected there so care-bear players can just grab one and dock it at Terra or something to ensure no-one steals it.
They're not going to be widely used. The Idris is. Yeah, its not going to be the headquarters headquarters, but neither would the Bengal due to the risk that would present. Dependant on the popularity, size and effectiveness of the Escort Carrier, Battlecruiser and Frigate it may or may not end up being the relative "Flagship" of a given guild though.
They also could work as headquarters for smaller guilds, as not all are going to be 100+ player monstrosities.
Main point of the comparison was that its a capital class ship, and big business. Not a single fighter or something. Its big, and is something that only a large group of people - I.E: a guild - could use.
