Why is the community population declining?

[Challenger]

Well, gunboat + ptrans is just simply overpowering any transport, there's no denying that. But a transport shouldn't be as strong as to be able to take on both of those and have equal chances, this would mean that pirates are reduced to bringing fleets into any area they want to pirate successfully.

Agreed, I was merely pointing out that liners cannot compare with cruisers. Nor should they be; they're balanced acceptably for what they are.

How would exactly would "spending cargo to harden transports" work though? We already have armours for hp boost at the cost of cargo. So now... we make a set of really strong transport turrets that take a lot of cargo space?

Yes, I would argue in favor of such a system. Rather than weak turrets that require a measly five cargo as our only option, why not give transports trimmed-down razors or cerbs? Options that cost 50 - 100 cargo apiece would be very reasonable, if they provided a tangible bonus to firepower. Right now, most 4k+ transports just feel naked, when if anything a in-RP line of reasoning would have corporate engineers protecting their heavier freight BETTER than the smaller stuff.

I'm not suggesting that transports should be capable of sporting battleship-tier weaponry. But I (and I hope, most pilots who fly these) would love to be able to make an analog decision balancing firepower and cargo capacity.

Regarding your mention of balance against single bombers . . . What is the in-RP virtue of house engineers designing 5k transports to be able to take on a single bomber, but get destroyed in seconds by any gunboat? I merely ask.