Tell us about the Hammerhead when it first started. What was that original idea, and how did it change between that original idea and the concept?
TL;DRThe Hammerhead began as a small Retaliator-sized patrol boat with stronger turrets, but needing a mess hall, crew quarters and a bigger engine room practically doubled its size during concept, before concept art.
The original idea was a small patrol boat about the size of the Retaliator, and the general idea was a Retaliator that swapped out its torpedoes for stronger turrets. And from there, the job for the patrol boat was to go around systems and police the area in a sort of defensive way and protect stations and other fleets. We realized that people would be aboard it for much longer than they are on the Retaliator, so they would need a mess hall, proper crew quarters, that sort of thing. So the ship had to get bigger for that, which accordingly meant it needed a bigger engine room and bigger stuff than that. So it practically doubled in size from the initial thing, in the concept phase. This is before any kind of art or concept art had been done for it.
And that's part of what contributed to the whole confusion over the sizes when the concept was announced, and the brochure and everything like that.