When it comes to passenger transport through the frontier, how would this ship hold up? Will the ship have any on-board defense systems? (such as auto-turrets to dissuade boarding parties?) and will there be heavy enough armor and hard points to survive small raids?
TL;DRBoarder defense falls to the crew, the Starliner should have decent armor and room to add defenses, but its weapons are meant to keep attackers at bay rather than rival a dedicated fighter.
As of right now defense for boarders will be handled by the crew, in much the same way as boarder defense on any other ship. With the customizability of the Starliner, there should be plenty of room to install additional defenses if they are so desired. The ship is pretty sturdy and heavy, so expect the ship to have decent armor to withstand an attack, but do not expect it to go toe to toe with a dedicated fighter ship. The ship's weapons are designed to keep would be attackers at bay, not destroy them. Granted if you were to change out the stock Size 5 hardpoint weapon out and get an amazing gunner, there is no reason why you cannot take out a few ships with well-placed shots. The ship has large power plants for a reason, to feed the shields and redundant systems that on normal ships would not be present. This ship will most likely run cool with extra power in case there is a need.