  Previous computations of the potential landscape with the shapes
parameterized in terms of Cassini ovaloids are extended to collective dynamics
at finite excitations. Taking fission as the most demanding example of large
scale collective motion, transport coefficients are evaluated along a fission
path. We concentrate on those for average motion, namely stiffness C, friction
\gamma and inertia M. Their expressions are formulated within a locally
harmonic approximation and the help of linear response theory. Different
approximations are examined and comparisons are made both with previous
studies, which involved different descriptions of single particle dynamics, as
well as with macroscopic models. Special attention is paid to an appropriate
definition of the deformation of the nuclear density and its relation to that
of the single particle potential. For temperatures above 3 MeV the inertia
agrees with that of irrotational flow to less than a factor of two, but shows
larger deviations below, in particular in its dependence on the shape. Also
friction exhibits large fluctuations along the fission path for small
excitations. They get smoothed out above 3 - 4 MeV where \gamma attains values
in the range of the wall formula. For T > (or=) 2 MeV the inverse relaxation
time \beta = \gamma /M turns out to be rather insensitive to the shape and
increases with T.
