When trying to attach add-ons to your ship, do you purely take the ship's "size" (Transport, Frigate, Cruiser, etc.) into consideration, or can you take its actual size? I usually think of your typical Transport as the smaller end of the scale, but then they drop the Goliath and the Universe, in BFK, and both of those colossi are "transports", because they haul goods. I was thinking it might be interesting to have a group introduce a Goliath to Damaris; it orbits a blue star, and is, itself, rich with minerals, so it stands to reason they might be a good locale for making plasma fuel, as well as already possessing trade capability, to sell the lucrative resource. Thought I might throw a plasma scoop onto the Goliath, to "round out" its harvesting abilities, but Transports don't seem to have a listing. Thing is, the Goliath is 3 miles (5 km) long, making it quite big for a "transport", and comparable to a cruiser, in girth. Would you say "nope, no transport option", or say "big ship uses the "big ships" option"? I've often felt the same with the Universe. Does it get to be HUGE, but use more "toy ship" size bits, anyway, or does a vessel of that scale have to get parts of that scale? Battleships would have "battleship parts", but if that's because even Grand Cruisers don't use such mammoth parts, fine. If you COULD strap several things together, or fit a particularly large GC's parts to a particularly small Battleship, it would seem a tad easier to salvage the thing, than it usually is portrayed.

Just curious. Is a "transport" a transport, or is a cruiser-sized transport still in need of cruiser-scale parts?

The Goliath comes equipped with a "plasma scoop." Read the ship description again. The issue is that the "plasma scoop" listed as a separate component isn't really a plasma scoop. It's an atmospheric scoop designed to harvest a gas giant instead of a star, like the Goliath.

Not to knit-pick, but it says Plasma Refinery, which is separate, and it draws plasma from stars, not gas giants; not quite the same thing. On the other hand, the Refinery does NOT say how the vessel draws plasma from ANYTHING, only what it does with it, afterwards. Regardless, the other part of the question still has a smidge of validity. Would a cruiser-sized ship need cruiser-sized parts, or would a Transport-class ship be configured, regardless of size, to use the same size components as a Carrack Transport, even though it is twice that size? I find it weird that the massive Universe can use the same equips as a ship 1/6 it's size. Suppose that might be part of why it has FOUR cargo stores. Anyway, was just curious.

"...so it plunges from the warp to scoop the plasma of the brilliant blue-giant star Delta 7815..."

I don't know...sounds like a plasma scoop. Then again, I was reading the lengthy description and not the mechanics at the bottom, after the emboldened phrase.

And the difference between gas giant and blue star is exactly the point I made.

I just had a deja vu moment.

I've always ruled such things individually. Silly oversights like this are what makes Errata so necessary. I've been looking lately for the Errata of my first and second edition D&D books. Then I remembered, there aren't any. Okay, I just lied. I was never looking for them. I just wanted to make a point.