The police intercept the smaller guys, Navy handle big guys. IF you'll notice, defenders patrol most of space that isn't a trade lane. Theres a reason. For the petty lane hacking ships. (lets be reasonable. As a lane hacker,you blast a cargo pod off, get in, and get out, thats the basis of the vanilla fl faction) He jumps in, chases them off, and then leaves. A police's duty in FL is to camp the bases, patrol the lanes, and then eat donuts. The end. The Navy is flying deep patrols, into Zone 21, into the dark matter clouds around Texas, keeping Willard safe. The NAVY is there to stop real security threats, drugs are a civilian issue.
FL is different from RL. Its set in a World War scenario. That simple. And as such your world war class "Police" would carry heavier arms. Light fighters would specialize. Coordinate your logging on, as a faction. One light fighter with shield killers, another with hull blasters. You can run circles around a heavy fighter. And then have bomber wings. Two or three heavily outfitted bombers, because they -are- needed to stop the transports and gunboats.
Lastly, you do want a gunship. Its not a tank. Its a Humvee. And -military- police use humvees. So maybe one gunship for the LPI. BEcause yes, if a big battlestar comes rolling in? You're running like hell, thats the navy's problem.
Navy should ignore small pirates and smalltime smugglers. Its a waste of resources to chase them, when they're going to get picked up..
Smalltime pirates and crooks -should- fly lightfighters and the smaller freighters, give the police faction and the real Liberty Rogues some FUN RP.
Because honestly? "Bloodhounds between Fort Bush and Pittsburg!" would NOT get the Navy going in. It would get three overweight and pissed off policemen going that way.
Curiously enough, Liberty Police is NOT a state service. Its a corporation. AKA, they can build what they need. But...A curious idea strikes.
PErhaps the LSF and the LPI work together? The LSF has the bombers and the gunships, and the LPI has the light fighters with specialized loadouts. Coordinated logon times and voila, an actual RP unit.
The Navy will be your Executioners and Guardians, destroying any capital menaces or other house threats. Also, they -would- intercept transports. (Anything with 3500 cargo or more is big, which is the equivalent of a small frigate trying to get through a blockade. It'd get shot down.)
Out of all that brainstorming, I come upon one main point. Inter-cooperation. The Liberty Navy must not rule the iron fist of all military might on every ship, the LPI must not run fearlesly into battle with a battlestar and expect to win. And the LSF must be the backup for when things go ugly.
In Freelancer, the Liberty Security Force is your SWAT team.
