BRAD'S COMMENTS: It's funny, to think where the Ferengi started off, and where they ended up, in the grand scheme of the TNG-era storyline.  First conceived as a kind of ultra-capitalist arch enemy, it quickly became clear that the short, elephant-eared aliens were more comical than menacing.  By the time ST:DS9 debuted, the impressively sized Ferengi Marauder was all but forgotten.  The Ferengi race assumed the place of the Orions from ST:TOS, as a sort of greedy, buffoonish pack of n'er-do-wells.  Armin Shimmerman turned his character Quark into the definition of the Ferengi, and any idea that the fans may have had regarding the "threat" of the Ferengi, was quickly forgotten amidst the amusing escapades of Quark and his relatives, not to mention the Nagus, and sundry other Ferengi bit players, most of whom waxed not just a little Harry Muddish.
     I can't speak for all fans, but I learned to adore the Ferengi thanks to ST:DS9, and when I dug up these stats from my old copy of the FASA TNG Officer's Manual, I was reminded of the Ferengi's earlier incarnation.  The Marauder is a Galaxy Class competitor, with a massively heavy superstructure for its size, balanced by a much more modest array of disruptor weaponry, weak shields, and relatively puny engines.  In some ways this makes sense, as the Marauder is hardly a capital ship in the classic sense.  The Ferengi would rather bargain or snivel their way out of a stand-up fight, and since the Marauder has to double as a cargo ship, keeping the hull intact long enough to deliver the goods to the buyer would be a primary concern.  It would also explain why the Ferengi committed none of these largish vessels to the various conflicts that savaged the Alpha and Beta Quadrants from the beginning of ST:TNG until the end of ST:DS9.  They were probably waiting around to see which side came out on top, hoping to cash in on the spoils of the war and finagle themselves a decent chunk of the market in the new Alpha-Beta political order--whatever that order might have turned out to be.  Still, for some scenarios, the D'kora Class might be appropriate, as both friend and foe.  It's my guess that they typically operate alone, almost always under the command of wealthy or politically powerful Ferengi, who are not only captains of their ships, but also partial owners.  

* Denotes completely hypothetical model number and stats, devised by Brad R. Torgersen.

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