the first (large) ship I ever bought was the Luxury Liner. I used it whole heartedly, however, during 4.84, there wasn't much options to transport people. (Only passengers and VIPs were available at the time). 4.85 and, tada, more options. it was great... until I realized, that although there were more opportunities, it is relatively tricky to plot an actual course or route for my lux liner. for a while, it's been in dry dock.
Personally. I believe that the Liners, should be in a class of their own. (smaller transports called "shuttles"). several times i've seen "Human Cargo" which, for lack of a better term, is stupid. People (unless they are slaves) shouldn't be lumped in with the rest of the commodities. Taking passengers from place to place, house to house, should an economy of it's own. Ideally, Liners (and other human transport craft) should take a majority of passengers instead of cargo, if not completely comprised of people. rp items are acceptable, and some commodity trading as well, as long as it is not the primary mode of income. IE (luxury) consumer goods, food rations, water, etc... are acceptable in small to moderate quantities. trading things like engine components, nano-capacitors, etc... are definitely not.
I tend to agree with those who say that a lone pirate fighter/bomber should at the very least, think twice about trying to hold up a luxury liner.
two passenger ship classes, "shuttle" which is for small passenger sizes (Armored transport could be qualified as both trade and passenger, as with any other "shuttle" ships). the second, Liner classes, are designed primarily for the transport of passengers.
Below is Ideally what I would like to see for liners. Licenses replace scanners (similar to how the battleship license works.
Transport License (Class 3) - The pilot of this ship has been granted permission to take aboard no more than 500 person(s) for inter-system transportation. This includes a crew complement.
Transport License (Class 2) - The Captain of this ship has been granted permission to take aboard no more than 1500 passengers and 75 personnel for inter-system transportation.
Transport License (Class 1) - The Captain of this ship has been granted permission to take aboard no more than 3000 passengers and 150 personnel for inter-system transportation.
Transport License (Class A) - The Captain of this ship has been granted permission to take aboard a full complement of passengers and a require a minimum staff of 200 personnel for inter-system transportation.
Transport License (Class S) - The pilot or Captain of this ship has been commissioned by the local authorities to respond to emergency situations. This may include but are not limited to: rescue and recovery operations, slave trade interdiction, relocation of refugees, mobile clinic/hospital duties, etc...
apologies if my ideas appear scattered, I haven't been getting proper sleep as of late...
*Edit* just thought of something:
We could crate "Passenger Terminals" ("Liberty Passenger Terminal"?). Stations in orbit around Capitol/Important planets that handle passengers and some basic essentials as to more clearly separate transporting and commodity trading.
NOTE: this would apply only to planets with high traffic and/or high populations where it would make sense. IE; Manhattan, New Tokyo, etc... some other planets and stations (like planet Baden Baden, and Luxury Liner Shetland[?]) would still retain passengers planet/station side.
Forgot to mention my revamp and structuring of passengers (house specific passengers). For Example, a Bretonian Passenger/VIPs would be picked up (bought) in Bretonia then would pay (sell) to go further out. Bretonian Tourits would be the ones that go back to bretonia (abeit, at a lower rate). Yes, it's a ton more programing and editing, but one can dream eh?
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