Actually, a transport being used as a meat shield might be a nice tactic. Some relatively small transport with basic civillian transport shield and a lot of regens (like Behemoth) could be used to buy a large capship a few shots of mortar off, before it scrams for cover. Of course, if he places himself obviously between you and your target, vaporise it, or at least try.
Tho, I'd like to hear an admin point on this. Is using the fact that shields repell any ammount of damage ONCE considered a bug and abuse, or a legitimate fact?