Compared to cruisers escorts ARE more resilient in every respect EXCEPT for assault boats.
No they are not.
People simply forget how shields work. Escorts CAN be more resilent if there are huge amounts of firepower involved (like the mentioned 10 hits around), but under the regular circumstances (so meaning something between 2 and 4 hits a round) they are usually LESS resilient.
Simply use the 5 swords vs. Lunar example
If both take 2 hits a round:
Lunar 0 damaged
swords crippled after 3 rounds, all gone after 5 rounds ->Lunar more resilent
If both take 3 hits a round
Lunar crippled after 4 rounds, gone after 8
swords crippled after 3 rounds, all gone after 5 rounds ->Lunar more resilent
4 hits
Lunar: crippled after 2, gone after 4
swords: crippeld after 2, gone after 3 rounds -> Lunar more resilent
5 hits
Lunar: crippled after 2, gone after 3
swords: crippeld after 2, gone after 3 rounds -> draw
6 hits
Lunar: crippled after 1, gone after 2
swords: crippeld after 1, gone after 2 rounds -> draw
7 hits
Lunar: crippled after 1, gone after 2
swords: crippeld after 1, gone after 2 rounds -> draw
8 hits
Lunar: crippled after 1, gone after 2
swords: crippeld after 1, gone after 2 rounds -> draw
And so on...
For simplicity I ignored the right shift on gunnery table as well as the chance to get crits, as it is more than even out by the vulnerability to assault boats
or allocate lances which would be better served against capital ships.
Nonnense. There is no reason NOT to use Lances against Escorts. The described mechanism right shift for being an escort as well as an addiditional right shift for being abeam makes lances the prefered weapon.
Only exceptions are Escorts with 4+ Armor like cobras. But against everything with 5+ or 6+ there is absolutly no reason to not to use lances against escorts. At all they are the best choice if no assault boats are avaible.
All they need to do is time things to AAF behind the cruisers and they can then lock on while staying in the rear arc and only presenting an abeam aspect to return fire. How long do you think a lunar can stand up to the FP20 of those 5 swords when it's only getting 2 battery dice and 2 lance dice in return?
Pure theoryhammer. Or in this case theorygothic. Pracitcal it should be hard enought to get behind the fleet formation if the enemy knows what he does...
In general: after the FAQ escorts aren't that bad.
Corsair Eldar and Tyranids have exellent ones.
In Orkfleets they are also the better part of the fleet list.
Chaos Escorts aren't THAT bad - the only problem is that their cruisers are insanly cheap, this makes a hard competition.
Even Imps have the Cobra, it's only the Frestorm that terribly sucks.
All in all there is no problem with escorts. There are just some wich are seriously wrong priced.