What role do we expect the Defender to play, and what kind of gameplay opportunities can people look for with it? It's called the Defender; does that mean it can't be used for attack?
TL;DRThe Defender is designed as a nimble, offensive hit-and-run ship that guards the Merchantman by buzzing attackers, hitting hard with its cannons, and drawing pursuers away; the name is partly a branding gag.
Funnily enough, I had this discussion with someone in the office today and they said, why is it called the Defender if it's got a fragile hull? And I was like, well, it defends the Merchantman. It's not a defensive ship itself. So it is quite an offensive ship, and the way we've designed it, it's more suited to hit-and-run attacks. So it'll be able to buzz around any attackers that are coming for the Merchantman or the fleet that it's guarding, and if they ignore it, it'll be able to pack a big punch with the cannons that are outfitted on there. But if they come after it, it's going to be able to survive long enough and draw them away from the fleet, so that the Merchantman can get away quite easily. So it's very nimble. That's the thing to take away from this.
One of the things too was, in a weird way, it was about branding as well. When talking about the name, as Jonny said, it's designed to defend the ship, but also it was the idea that giving it an aggressive name would feel somewhat contrary to the Banu, to their spirit. And also the gag of, the Merchantman is a merchant ship, this is a defense ship, so they called it a Defender.