House Faction Ship Allocations.

Some of the House ships should come with simple swap outs.

X can be swapped for Y for -/+ n points

eg the Colos Drakar could swap the twin pulses for Epees?  Just imagine a Star Raven reequiped for a Colos special load out... eek!

How hard would it be to just make "variants," of pre-existing ships? I know in BattleTech, such things exist. Obviously the same applies here as each published house book has variants of the core ships. Maybe there could be a few more "Public Domain," variants for the core ships? Not just ones for specific Houses.

How hard would it be to just make "variants," of pre-existing ships? I know in BattleTech, such things exist. Obviously the same applies here as each published house book has variants of the core ships. Maybe there could be a few more "Public Domain," variants for the core ships? Not just ones for specific Houses.

Some do exist, or do so at least in the sense that they are employed by multiple Houses. Those are found in Operation Drydock, and a few more scattered across the other supplements. 

I do agree that there perhaps is room for more widely available refits, however I would point out that the Silent Death setting is that it is reflective of the fact that with the fall of the Terran Empire, it's every House for themselves, and that means a lot of local improvs and kludge jobs are increasingly the rule rather than the exception whether the House defense force brass like it or not.

Colos Spirit Rider would swap the Twin Splatter Guns for a Triple Stiletto at no extra cost

Drakar
Pilot Rail Repeator for Twin Rapier (2pts)
Gunners BCD swap Twin Pulse for Twin Stilettos (3pts)
126pts

Star Raven
Pilot Disentagrator and Quad Pulse Laser for Twin Epee and Quad Stiletto (3pts)
Gunners A and B, Twin Meld Lasers and Quad Pulse Lasers for Twin Epee and Quad Stiletto (6pts)
Gunner C Quad Pulse Laser for Quad Stiletto (1pts)
135pts

I think it would look quite good. The rule is it has to be an exact fit.

Colos Spirit Rider would swap the Twin Splatter Guns for a Triple Stiletto at no extra cost

Drakar
Pilot Rail Repeator for Twin Rapier (2pts)
Gunners BCD swap Twin Pulse for Twin Stilettos (3pts)
126pts

Star Raven
Pilot Disentagrator and Quad Pulse Laser for Twin Epee and Quad Stiletto (3pts)
Gunners A and B, Twin Meld Lasers and Quad Pulse Lasers for Twin Epee and Quad Stiletto (6pts)
Gunner C Quad Pulse Laser for Quad Stiletto (1pts)
135pts

I think it would look quite good.  The rule is it has to be an exact fit.

Sounds good, I'll have to try them out.

Actually, I have a question regarding this same topic: Are the ship availability lists presented in Rules of Warfare II "iron-clad," or are they flexible? I don't see why House Colos couldn't take Black Widows, but if they cannot, for balance or fluff reasons, then I can understand. Or would such things as 'faction availability' fall under the realm of "do whatever you like,"?

Actually, I have a question regarding this same topic: Are the ship availability lists presented in Rules of Warfare II "iron-clad," or are they flexible? I don't see why House Colos couldn't take Black Widows, but if they cannot, for balance or fluff reasons, then I can understand. Or would such things as 'faction availability' fall under the realm of "do whatever you like,"?

RoW and RoW II were originally meant to govern tournament/official event play. The canon does allow for a House to have acquired a small handful of a particular vessel outside of the ordinary as it were, but this was regarded as an exception, not the rule, much like how during WW2 a random individual or small number of captured aircraft were pressed into service by one side or another to make up numbers, fulfill secondary roles, etc.

So the short answer is that by mutual agreement between players, a House Colos force could include a Black Widow. But in that specific case, it is not that Colos cannot support a Black Widow in any technical sense (the silly thing is built entirely with off-the-shelf tech after all). The issue in this specific case is that Homme Industries refuses to sell their lethal creations and even their civilian craft to the House responsible for the killing of the sole surviving grandchild of the company founder. The old man was unforgiving, and designed the Nemesis in fact to see some justice done for his murdered granddaughter (see Fighter Tactics Manual for further details). His unwillingness to forgive or forget has extended to include any who side with or collaborate with House Colos. So the ASP Technocracy and the Luches Utopia are also under the ban, to say nothing of Draconians.

Actually, I have a question regarding this same topic: Are the ship availability lists presented in Rules of Warfare II "iron-clad," or are they flexible? I don't see why House Colos couldn't take Black Widows, but if they cannot, for balance or fluff reasons, then I can understand. Or would such things as 'faction availability' fall under the realm of "do whatever you like,"?

... The old man was unforgiving, and designed the Nemesis in fact to see some justice done for his murdered granddaughter (see Fighter Tactics Manual for further details). His unwillingness to forgive or forget has extended to include any who side with or collaborate with House Colos. So the ASP Technocracy and the Luches Utopia are also under the ban, to say nothing of Draconians.

This is the problem of Standard Torps vs VS torps.  As long as there are VS torps or missile boats the Nemesis is quite screwed.  Even if it is rammed it comes worse off.  Even a Betafort getting right behind it with the drift rule has a chance of crippling the damn thing.  Hence drift is what makes SD different to all other space games.