Price is an irrelevant factor as it is, essentially, an arbitrary figure added after the fact by FD in a attempt to achieve some kind of "balance and sense" to a non-sensical system.
If I designed a Cobra Mk IX with a mass of 100 tons (ship mass = another arbitrary FD figure - see Anaconda) and it can haul 500t of cargo does charging 200 million credits for purchase make it make sense?
Dude, what? Are we playing the same game?
Price is *the* relevant factor. It's the prime measure by which you measure the accessibility of any ship, followed somewhat closely by if it's rank-locked.
Seeing it as "an arbitrary figure added after the fact" makes me question whether you're one of those Ceos/Sothis players who've exploited so much money out of the system that you've forgotten what credits are for....
Mass is clearly *not* a variable by which ship viability has been or is meant to be measured by - just another one of the variables that can be tweaked, like the size of a powerplant or the default fuel tank.
As for your Cobra Mk IX example, I wouldn't know what the correct price would be. The figures ingame are a bit too specific to just be arbitrary/random. Other factors come into play, I imagine: How many weapon hardpoints? How many utility hardpoints? What kind of internal classes are available? How many/what size optional internals are there? All those questions, I feel, are a part of what confers a final pricetag.
Which, going back to a Type 9 if it were buffed, would mean it wouldn't get to Cutter price just by more cargo capacity, unless it's a LOT more capacity, but it would still have to be significantly more to purchase than it currently is if you, say, added a new Class 8 optional internal slot.
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That's a great idea, but it should be the Type-7, not T9, that's converted to use medium landing pads.
This is what got me excited about SLFs back when that feature was first announced...my immediate jumped-to conclusion was that I'd be able to use a Sidey or Eagle to *finally* interact with outposts again.
I'm glad I didn't start holding my breath for that, else I'd have long ago become a dead Smurf.