I'm still surprised that FD haven't found a way of encouraging players into specific ships in-game, which would in turn increase the likelihood of paint or kit sales. I haven't flown a Vulture for ages, but if specific missions were offered where the client required Vulture or Viper pilots for, say, an escort mission then I might be tempted back if the reward was sufficient. Similarly there could be high level Federal or Imperial rank / reputation / permit missions that dictate the use of a Courier or Federal x Ship, or even infiltration / smuggling missions that require a Sidewinder for maintaining a low profile.
Seriously, I think they're missing a trick here. More tailored missions and the increased chance of flogging a few paints as players build up or retain their fleets in anticipation. A win all round.
I've said from day one, that there should be some small ship ONLY events.
There should be outposts that only have small landing pads and asteroid bases that require small ships to fly through labyrinthine tunnels etc.
CGs to those places should also be a thing.
There should be missions to protect a medium ship with a fleet of small ships etc.
Small ships should have much lower emissions spectrums and be harder to spot by the authorities.
They should also be much faster than medium ships which in turn should be much faster than Large and Huge ships.
Anyway, there should be gameplay that absolutely requires small ships, to make them actually useful now that players can and do routinely jump from a sidewinder to an Asp in a couple of days and to an Anaconda in a week.
