Seeking rules clarification

[Baltar]

Have you seen what a pirate transport with mk4 transport turrets can do? Two of them can take down a gunboat. Its great for piracy as it has a CD on it. If that ship isn't used for combat then people are missing a trick. It can take down fighters by the bucketload. Its an awesome little ship. And yes, as soon as one player shoots at another player, that is pvp. It is one player trying to destroy another players ship, thus pvp.

Yes ... but you'll notice its a "Pirate" transport. Its a ship you should not see lawful traders flying in. And any decent pirate would not attempt to pirate one of these vessels. Please not, a Trader ID on this ship would be a bit OORP. And there's discussion about making this ship available for pirates to use during piracy in order to take more than 400 units of cargo.

With regard to PVP. Just because you have guns does not make it PVP. A transport is not likely to be "trying to destroy" a pirate in a gunboat. These are defensive weapons. The only way a transport can take down a gunboat is if there are multiple transports working together. And usually several of them will be taken out before the pirate goes down. I know ... I've been there ... don't mess with A51 transports when they are working in concert. Took on about 6 transports of various shapes and sizes and got run off. But ... they are traders transporting goods. The re-engagement rule does not apply because they cannot be the aggressor. Transport going offensive against a pirate would be OORP. Best thing a trader could do is hire bounty hunters to protect them. But then that means the trader would have to spend money ... since I only ask for 500k ... and the trader typically puts a 10 mil bounty on traders ... um ... math problem here folks.