On the other hand, i would very much support each and any ship to have a fuel transfer limpet controller integrated into the ship for free, along with having space for two to four limpets along.
Reasoning behind that:
1.In terms of realims, it would be just along the lines that you have to have a warning triangle and a first aid kit in your car. Along the same line the pilots federation might require each ship to have the capability to transfer at least some fuel to another ship.
2. In terms of gameplay, we currently have some things in game which are of very low value. My first thought here are distress calls. Sometimes those contain ships which need refueling or repair. But in many other cases, it's a trader under attack by pirates. Now let's look at the options.
2.1 Somebody flies around in a "rescue ship", complete with fuel transfer limpet controler, repair limpet controler and cargo space to carry limpets. He indeed can help the broken or empty ship. But he'll have a problem if it turns out to be a pirate attack. Mind you, not everybody is a seasoned veteran in a fully engineered, ship. Those distress calls could be good content for all player, but if people early on "learn" that they are traps, it turns into dead content.
2.2 Somebody enters in a combat ship. He can fend of the pirates. Mind you, the goal is not just to kill them, but to take them down before they destroy the merchant ship. Which is a higher requirement than most combat in the game, where merely outlasting till the enemy dies is good enough. But as his ship is built to that, the NPC out of fuel or in need of repairs just gets a shrug and the player has to leave again, unable to do anything. Which again is not such a fun experience, resulting in these players also "learning" that distress calls are no fun and ignoring them.
You can't and should not turn any ship into one able to handle any combat challenge. But by making those limpets default equipment, integrated and not removeable, this content would be more useful for people in combat fit ships.
3. I don't really see this colliding with balance. No ship will be so much more powerful by having a few fuel transfer limpets on board. Even a few repair limpets won't make a real difference, as they really are only useful after combat or when you are fast enough to get out of combat for a while. Additionally, by just bringing like two or four of those limpets, they won't be a gamechanger. Specialized refuelers like the Fuel Rats will still want ships with more cargo space, to bring a sufficient ammount of limpets. (While the slots previously used the transfer limpet controller might turn into another fuel tank. )
The change would really only clear up slots in a very small number of ships in game, which have very specialized setups. And i think that these ships would just profit from having a few more slots, while not creating any balancing problems.
