I have a problem...

[Magoo!]

I'll be honest with you...

I can't see the Shire being a troop transport. For one, it's too big. Hard to navigate around asteroids and minefields, which is crucial for troop transports, since the human cargo they carry is too precious to let a few rocks endanger.

I'd recommend the Percheron. Since thats 2600 cargo(I think... <.< ), that should work for the BAF ID. It's also smaller, and far more agile.

I've thought about that.

Its size is what makes it perfect, in my opinion - since its mostly the gynormous armored plates that have the turrets on it that makes it seem to large. Well, alright, admittedly along with the very large bridge area, but I thought about this realistically.

Sure the Percheron might be more agile and whatnot, but as I'm aiming for supplying Harris which has been cut off from Bretonia and evacuating various people... Anyways, about to get off topic. I think of it like this - the Shire would probably be able to survive the Kusari Battleship's barrage of fire outside the Tau-31 JG, whereas the Percheron might only survive in-game because its invincibility from docking cinema. They'd be firing continuously on the side of the ship while its undergoing a jump and that's why the armor appeals to me. If I were trying to go for insertion of troops tactically speaking, I'd most definitely go for something smaller, but as it stands, I'm aiming for something that could survive by simply bypassing the enemy defenses.

Its like tanks in WWI (even though technically they were there until the very very end of the war, if at all). It was meant to steamroll past and through an enemy defense while keeping the soldiers behind its mass a bit safer from machine gun fire. I'm gonna switch time-frames here, but you'll get my point: whereas the Percheron would be more of a ship/plane to drop paratroopers.

Anywho, on to the mines/asteroids... On this, I have thought as well. Since I'll be supplying Harris and bringing back the wounded (refugees), the only mines or asteroids I'll really have to worry about would be the one leading up to the planet; but thats really a clear run from the partially constructed trade lane and the debris that was cleared for said construction to take place. Most the rest of my travels would take place in House space, and therefore be lacking in the asteroid/minefield department (Lacking, not devoid of).

So eh... Thats my interpretation of the circumstance.