My take, nothing. You equip your ship as hip as possible. But it does put you at an advantage. That's just the way it is when you build a one trick ship. Nothing wrong with that, just the way it is. I wouldn't want to take that advantage off you just because other people choose another profession and don't have that advantage. If they wanted that, they can choose it. Because choice is great. I became an explorer because I like exploring. Other players hate exploring. I wouldn't dream of making them go exploring. Let them make up their own mind.
And I feel the same way towards modes. Some modes make it possible to avoid CMDRs to gain an advantage, some make it possible to wing up to gain an advantage. Just the way it is. And the solutions to this non-problem create more issues than they solve. Because if you are arguing to level the playing field and have all BGS and PP activities in open in the name of balance, then we also should take a look at the advantages combat builds have in this encounter. And then we will need to address that. I don't want to go down that road. I want you to fly whatever the hell you like to fly. You're playing a game for your enjoyment. Likewise I don't want to force people who prefer a certain mode to engage in PP and BGS out of their preferred mode.
^^^
This.
I fly in Open for the same reason I Buckyball Race: its fun to design ships for specific purposes, and flying against human beings requires a different build than one that'll face NPCs. Would I ever
need a Blockade Runner in any mode besides Open? Not really. NPCs aren't much of a threat, after all, but quite frankly, the only difference between my CG Blockade Runner, and my "normal" cargo ship, is whether I install shield boosters instead of the wake and bounty scanners, and whether or not I install a hull reinforcement pack instead of an SRV.
Why do I carry an SRV on my cargo ships?
Why not? I fly down to planets all the time because I find it fun to do so, since you need a completely different approach for a fast orbital insertion. Might as well take an SRV out for a spin while there, especially if I spot a POI .
I guess I don't understand the outrage at people building combat ships. It makes sense to specialize in combat, especially installing a 2D FSD if you're staying in a system. You don't need the extra weight or power drain, if you're not jumping out of the system. I save my outrage at what the ships are
used for. Just because someone can outfit a combat ship, doesn't mean they have to be a jerk about it.
