Q ships are basically armed freighters, sacrificing their cargo capacity to carry weaponry. In our terms it would allow the single cargo bay a freighter carries to carry a weapon system. The ship would still be civilian (cannot retreat quickly) and still be unarmored, but in some cases these tradeoffs might be worth it. In terms of weaponry, you would most likely be restricted to a single small craft bay (interceptor, bomber, strike fighter or assault shuttle), or a single missile system (forward arc, not turret). An antimissile or torpedo bay might be possible as well (forward arc, not turret). Any q ship would be unable to enter the trade pool (obviously), including assault shuttle q ships (even if empty you still have shuttles in that bay.). You would be able to freely refit back and forth, assuming you were willing to spent the wrenches and metal...

Most factions already have a hull like this: the military transport.

The Phidi have an armed trading vessel that can go in the pool, but this is of limited use at present. Q ships are for defending against commerce raiders, which we don't really have.

Yes I've been wracking my head for how to include a commerce raiding scenario in the game as the mechanics stand, and it's hard, since all encounters are in-system.

-Will