[lostllama]

The Hippocrates was probably armed because of the NTF refusing to recognise BETAC. And to fend off asteroids, as someone has already said. Originally it may have been intended to have been unarmed/have minimal armament but the circumstances changed with the NTF rebellion. I dunno.

[Mobius]

Excuse me, but isn't the Hippocrates a bit older than the rebellion?

And asteroid fields aren't supposed to be anywhere. I don't see the point in using a LTerSlash against asteroids, though.

[FreeSpaceFreak]

I think it would be quite effective In one slash, it can take out quite a few asteroids, and it can do that every 15 (or so) seconds.

And I think I like the one with the armored panel most.

EDIT: K, I didn't know beams are supposed to ignore asteroids. Still, I think it would work well.

[Mobius]

Aren't anti-warship beams supposed to ignore asteroids?

[lostllama]

Excuse me, but isn't the Hippocrates a bit older than the rebellion?

Yes you're right, see the quote below. What I meant was, perhaps the Hippocrates' were originally designed to be unarmed or to just have minimal armament, but then later on the GTVA retrofitted them to be more heavily armed due to the threat the NTF posed when the rebellion began about 30 years later. I'm only speculating of course.

Chronos freighters IIRC are a civilian design but were brought into military service in FS1. Same with the Faustus.

From the tech room description:

Terrans developed the GTM Hippocrates early in the post-war Reconstruction period. With the outbreak of the NTF insurgency, the GTVA has once again called the Hippocrates into active military service. Its on-board facilities provide state-of-the-art medical care to thousands of patients. Hippocrates also help transport refugees out of contested systems into the safety of Allied-controlled regions. The unusual design of the Hippocrates enables its crew to isolate sections of the ship quickly in the event of quarantine or hull breach.

Note: original post edited slightly.

[Romanmolf]

Aren't anti-warship beams supposed to ignore asteroids?

Yes, I think.   

[Mobius]

Yes you're right, see the quote below. What I meant was, perhaps the Hippocrates' were originally designed to be unarmed or to just have minimal armament, but then later on the GTVA retrofitted them to be more heavily armed due to the threat the NTF posed when the rebellion began about 30 years later. I'm only speculating of course.

Yes but yours is an assumption. It's fanon.

[Vasudan Admiral]

Whoops - I seem to have broken the individual post topics.

Oh well, first split, first move. I thought I'd break something more.

[Akalabeth Angel]

        Why not arm it? You think the Shivans or the NTF are going to respect the non-combatant status of a medical ship? You might have Hippocrates paired with Elysiums roving through battlefields looking for survivors after the fight has moved on. If a stray patrol of fighter craft return to the site you'd want some sort of protection to buy you the time to get out of there.

[Mongoose]

Putting the LTerSlash and AAA beam on there might just be a matter of having the necessary hull space and reactor power to do so.  Hell, I'm sure Command would happily slap a BGreen on a Fenris if it were physically possible to do so.  If you know a ship's going to be used for active military service, and you have the means to arm it comparatively well, why wouldn't you?