to give an idea of what i mean by "expanse like"..
i threw together a spheroidal dropshuttle inspired by the Rocinante but built to work for BT rules. the end result would fight similar but is very much a different beast. (note that the only out-of-place tech on this is the sub-cap missiles, which were invented centuries after dropshuttles stopped being built. you could probably rework this as an age of war escort dropshuttle by switching to a single standard capital launcher and fewer missile shots.)
Acheron Class Torpedo Boat
Type: Military Spheriod
Mass: 1,200 tons
Technology Base: Inner Sphere (Standard)
Introduced: 3150
Mass: 1,200
Battle Value: 4,791
Tech Rating/Availability: E/X-X-X-X
Cost: 105,188,720 C-bills
Fuel: 60 tons (3,000)
Safe Thrust: 5
Maximum Thrust: 8
Heat Sinks: 22
Structural Integrity: 10
Armor
Nose: 71
Sides: 65/65
Aft: 50
Cargo
Bay 1: Cargo (60.0 tons) 2 Doors
Ammunition:
320 rounds of AC/5 ammunition (16 tons),
800 rounds of Machine Gun ammunition (4 tons),
20 rounds of Piranha ammunition (200 tons)
Escape Pods: 0
Life Boats: 3
Crew: 3 officers, 2 enlisted/non-rated, 6 gunners, 2 passengers, 7 marines
Notes: Mounts 21.5 tons of primitive aerospace armor.
Weapons: Capital Attack Values (Standard)
Arc (Heat) Heat SRV MRV LRV ERV Class
Nose (18 Heat)
2 Sub-Capital Missile Launcher (Piranha) 18 6(60) 6(60) 6(60) 0(0) Sub-Capital Missile
Piranha Ammo (20 shots)
RS/LS Fwd (2 Heat)
4 Machine Gun 0 1(8) 0(0) 0(0) 0(0) Point Defense
Machine Gun Ammo (200 shots)
2 AC/5 2 1(10) 1(10) 0(0) 0(0) AC
AC/5 Ammo (80 shots)
RS/LS Aft (2 Heat)
4 Machine Gun 0 1(8) 0(0) 0(0) 0(0) Point Defense
Machine Gun Ammo (200 shots)
2 AC/5 2 1(10) 1(10) 0(0) 0(0) AC
AC/5 Ammo (80 shots)