And why do you need them [the PDTs] to be readable on the exterior?
TL;DRDefenses must be visible so players can tell what to target, since taking down a ship this size means peeling back layers of defenses and subcomponents before boarding or disabling it.
Well, the reason we need them to be readable on the exterior is because part of the gameplay of tackling a ship of this size is going to be peeling back the layers of defense. You're not just going to rock up with a couple torpedoes and do the job, you're going to have to take out the subcomponents, take out the shield emitters, take out the PDCs and defense before you can even begin dreaming of trying to either board it or disable it. If we just had the tiny little dots distributed everywhere, people would struggle to actually be able to engage with that gameplay. We want people to visually know, without owning the ship, where to target.
For as powerful as this thing is going to be, it still has to be killable. It still has to be assaultable. It's going to end up being its own TSG just attacking one of these.