Transports should not have their regens integrated into their base hull.
Mounting armour on a transport is a risk vs reward choice. By not mounting it you have a little extra space to make profit but the downside is that you will die very easily, particularly to one SNAC. If you use an armour upgrade you lose a little space but are much more survivable. This is how the dynamic should be and how it should remain.
SNAC + EMP bombers are quite possibly the worst ship class to shoot transports with, maybe excepting light fighters.
And unarmored transports are as relevant for balance as unarmored battleships.
I still believe that this would be a good idea, especially since cruisers and even battleships are allowed to shoot transports under the correct circumstances. This would allow transports to survive even a Battleship Heavy Mortar round. While yes, a transport attempting to engage a battleship would be doomed in a 1v1 scenario anyways, it would still prevent a one-shot kill, and allow even PvP rookies who don't fly anything but transports to make more of a difference in a group fight.
In a less extreme scenario, a Cruiser Light Mortar to a transport's hull would very likely grab someone's attention enough to get the transport pilot to potentially be less flighty. This I feel is a lot better than say, a rookie player sporting a generic AU seeing 70-90% of their hull melt before their eyes, panicking, then choosing to run.
Again, as a pirate I wouldn't want to one shot a transport with a SNAC, or LM, or any other big weapon. Yes, an EMP+SNAC bomber is terrible for piracy, but that doesn't seem to stop some folks from trying, especially if they're simply passing through an area and suddenly, "Oh look, a transport!" As a policeman, I also would not wish to one-shot a smuggler's hull simply because I forgot to check and see that they don't actually have an armor upgrade.
As a side note, maybe simply bumping every transport in the game's cargo up 20 units would be a good compromise. Something needs to be done, in my opinion. Having to forsake both armor and good shielding in order to supply PoBs optimally feels like overkill.
But I still think merging nanos into the hull would be nifty, especially since suddenly Repair Ships would be excellent escort assets due to how their Repair Tools function. As transports have been one of my most flown ship types recently for RP purposes (PelicanPelicanPelicanPelican), I would love to see this happen.
I have a pure 5K trader complete with (op) mining turret, no cau whatsoever and barrier shield
just pay the pirate toll, it's faster and he get's happy and I go on
He wants my cargo? np, drop some, it's faster and he get's happy and I go on
He destroys my cargo? well I lose some money but he loses some too, np better luck next run, I go on
He wants to kill me? ok just type some random RP screams on chat, np better luck next run
JUST PAY THA MAN!
I dont remember ever using nanos or bats, the only time I use nanos on this ship is when crazy NPC's bump into me full speed on Trade Lanes
so it really doesn't affect if they merge or not, at least for me, whatever you guys think it's best for the server can go