It's not my intention to question the work of the balance team and their idea of reworking transports, but I don't understand why a transport MUST be viable in PVP, no matter what. I don't understand why the trend of converting ALL the transports into combat ships is a good thing. A transport, especially a civilian one, is a ship built to carry cargo, not engage in combat. Its best bet against a pirate or law enforcement attack would be to flee, if it can, or comply.
It's fine to me that certain special transport lines, such as the Bulwark, are specifically designed to carry and defend their cargo more safely, and are substantially more expensive because of it. Furthermore, in return, their users would have to deal with the problem that their strong armament could make them banned by the Houses, if the reason for acquisition isn't sufficiently justified in RP.
I agree that the bureaucratic procedures for licensing these special lines of tranports should be streamlined. I also think that they should generally be accepted for anyone who is able to argue logical reasons in a RP with a certain amount of common sense.
