[Alneyan]

Welcome aboard, and mind the ceiling (silly greeting message number 15).

Colony Ships have one fundamental purpose: they allow your enemy to know for sure your vessel *is* a Colony Ship, and not a small gunboat in diguise as Colony Ships can only do that, unlike Small Transports. So, if you somehow feel the need of painting a big target on your Colony ships, you should use the Colony ship hull; otherwise, Small Transports are just the same, and allow *some* amount of secrecy (of course, Small Transports aren't exactly ships of the line, and their possibilities are limited, but they can do something else).

More interesting are the Destroyers and Light Cruisers for Colony Ships: their cost is pretty much the same, and they can get one more engine. Light Cruisers will also have some room to spare, allowing for a couple of weapons, supply storages... and the other players won't know right away that your "Guns to their front" Light Cruiser is actually an unarmed Colony Ship.