Um, no.
Maybe a hybrid ship, sure, but piloting a straight up interceptor? Heck no. First of all, where would we dock? That thing is way too big for the mail slot. Would we do what the regular interceptors do, and fly to Thargoid surface sites to replenish...whatever they get out of those? Because that seems like a pain.
Second, interceptors are enormous targets. Super easy to hit. And if FDev actually DID let us fly them, you can bet they’d start including NPC’s with anti-Thargoid weaponry and the skills to use them.
Third, can they even use Supercruise? How would we navigate within a star system?
Fourth, even with anti-Thargoid NPC’s, interceptors would be ridiculously overpowered in the hands of actual players. The weakest ones are only as easy to defeat as they are because their behavior is very formulaic; they start by shooting their cannons and deploying Thargons. You take down one heart, and they start using...I don’t remember, either a caustic missile or the short-range lightning. Take down another heart, they start using whichever of those they didn’t use after the first heart. Take down another heart, and they charge the Shutdown Field. Take down the last heart, and they usually don’t really do much of anything except keep shooting at you. Finally, attack them until they blow up, then wait at least 4 km away for the caustic cloud to dissipate.
Now take all those weapons (and the defenses) and add to the equation the unpredictability of a living human player. Sure, against other players you could still easily find yourself challenged, even beaten. But against NPC’s, who are probably 99% of all ships you will encounter? You’d be waaaaaay overpowered.
So, in conclusion: hybrid ships? Maybe, yeah. At some point. Human-piloted pure interceptors? Very no.
