What are the current high level design goals for the Banu Merchantman? Has it changed at all from its original intent?

I don't think it's really changed from its original intent. Obviously, between it, the Carrack and a couple of other ships, it's the most anticipated or awaited ships. Its broad, high-level goals: it's still a trading ship. It's still got shops or stalls inside it where you can sell your goods, trade your goods. It's still a great little, big ship for being an org headquarters. So it's got the accommodation capacity to keep a bunch of people on board. The writers have said Banu trade negotiations take a long time, so we've built in short to mid-term accommodation for guests. It's still got those huge honking great guns to defend itself. The one thing that maybe it's changed, maybe it's not changed, is the topic of speed of the ship. A lot of things have been said about the ship, officially and unofficially, and they sort of get warped over time. It is a big ship. Big ships in our game are not fast ships. So there's a lot of expectation that this ship is just going to be zipping around all over the place. It's big, it's hefty, it's armored, and it's got the firepower to offset that.

You're meant to have some of those Banu Defenders flying around.

Yeah, that's the reason they are there. And there is some interplay between the two that we've built in but not talked about. So there are reasons and things going on.