Found it, at last. Seems I wasn't the only one finding it harder to actually find the CZs than win them.

It went smooth and fast this time. Having spec. ops on your own side tends to speed things up a little.
I wonder if we'll ever see a new ship that makes the Corvette obsolete for dominating CZs.

I'll probably get it in early access due to being a ship hoarder and very impatient at that.
But I honestly don't see a use for it.
The fuel tank and fuel scoop are both undersized for that huge and thirsty FSD, making it poorly suited for exploration. (The Anaconda still rules as heavy explorer.)

Main character being beat up by Pat Roach, one of the great tropes of the 1980s.

The baby blue imp simps didn't offer much resistance, as expected.
With all the new ships, it's nice to know that the venerable Corvette haven't been made obsolete. Yet.

It took forever. My MCs ran dry halfway through, and the spec ops. and their phasers did a real number on my hull. The shield (bi-weave) never dropped though, even though I was down to 3-4% at times.
Still, it has over 50 ly jump range, and I use it for exploration too. It's a very nice little ship.

Hacking holographic adverts is always fun, but I decided to go for some more direct action and pick a fight. The thing is that Corax isn't really built with combat in mind, but rather a general purpose mission runner (pirate ship).
Nevertheless It performed very well, and I'm in the top 50% now.

That blue haired waifu anime princess and her simps will make a perfect target to start with.

Yeah, I have one of those too, permanently stationed in Colonia (no need for long jump range in the inner regions).
It's a bit different since it comes with an undersized fuel scoop, but it works well thanks to the huge fuel tank. Make 8-9 quick jumps, then stop to scan and scoop.

I don't know if I agree, really. My exploraconda (with around 85 ly jump range and every module you can possibly need, incl. 4 SRVs and 1 SLF) is quite nimble thanks to being a lightweight build.
And when I use it I use SRVs a lot, and have the ship function more or less like a mobile base.

Oh, and a shield, of course. Even a small one to protect from bumps.
Anyway, perhaps we could have a "mk2 fuel scoop" that offers the scoop rate of the 8A while still being a size 7?
That would sell the Caspian to me, no doubt.

Then there are lots of "nice to have" features (where the Conda shines).
- Research/collector limpet controller.
- Mining laser for mat gathering.
- SLF (in situations when you don't want to risk your ship).
The issue with the Caspian is that it offers the extras, but not all of the essentials.

What you actually need for long expeditions?
- Long jump range (you can still make short ones).
- Robustness/ability to repair. One repair limpet controller and two AFMUs (no need for three, since they can repair each other).
- High scoop rate or a large fuel tank.
- 2-4 SRVs.
- Surface scanner.

LET'S GET READY TO RRRUUUUMBLEEEE!
(Or something.)

That's a shame, because it sounds like a lifetime position. 😁

And the undersized fuel tank, meaning that we need to fuel scoop very often.
I'd say it's the combination that's the problem, that both the tank and scoop are too small. Wouldn't be too surprised if the release gets postponed, considering that it's supposed to be an exploration ship.