Seeking Design Advice

[SCC]

OK after someone made a comment about how small most DropShips are I'm looking at putting pen to paper for a design that I've been kicking around for some time: A DropShip that can lift an entire regiment at once. Now SO says that a regiment consists of 132 'Mechs maximum, but the Lyrans added an extra Company during the 4th SW brings it to 144, add 36 ASF for fighter screen for total bays needed to 180 and I'm rounding up to a nice round 200. So that many bays weighs 30,000 tons. So I'm probably looking at a minimum weight of 50,000 tons.

So questions:
1) The big one: How many guns should I stick on this thing to protect it?
2) Could I get away with thrust of only 2/3 or do I need a minimum of 3/5?
3) How much SI?

[David CGB]

OK after someone made a comment about how small most DropShips are I'm looking at putting pen to paper for a design that I've been kicking around for some time: A DropShip that can lift an entire regiment at once. Now SO says that a regiment consists of 132 'Mechs maximum, but the Lyrans added an extra Company during the 4th SW brings it to 144, add 36 ASF for fighter screen for total bays needed to 180 and I'm rounding up to a nice round 200. So that many bays weighs 30,000 tons. So I'm probably looking at a minimum weight of 50,000 tons.

So questions:
1) The big one: How many guns should I stick on this thing to protect it?
2) Could I get away with thrust of only 2/3 or do I need a minimum of 3/5?
3) How much SI?

not sure about 1 and 3 but you need 3/5 to leave planets

[Tyler Jorgensson]

Extra company for the Lyrans??? Seems odd to me.  IIRC...

Three Battalions of 36
Three Command Lances of 4
One Command Company of 12
= 132

Aerospace support depends on Regiments but usually is 18 fighters a Wing, which if being assigned on a lance for lance basis covers a Battalion per Wing, which then equals...

54 Fighter for the wing
Optional Command Lances of 2
Optional Command Squadron of 6
= 66 Fighters

All that being said...

Guns would have to be AMS, PPC's, Gauss Rifles and Medium Lasers with maybe a Screen Launcher depending on the era. Enough weapons to protect versus fighters while your own launch, and enough heavier weapons to finish the job.

As for SI: the question is how much can you afford to put on?

[SCC]

The Lyrans attached a company of Light 'Mechs, based upon fluff all Wolfhounds, to each regiment during the 4th SW. It was to counter-act the problems with scouting.

ANd I got the math wrong before, it should only be 18 fighters.

[sadlerbw]

OK after someone made a comment about how small most DropShips are...

Glad I could inspire you!  ;D

I don't have any solid answers, but to give you some data points, the Tiamat II, which is 36k tons, has an SI of 75, and the Castrum, which is the max of 100k tons, has an SI of 150. Those are both combat vessels. The cargo transports are much lower: the Mamoth at 52k tons has 20 SI, and the Behemoth at 100k tons has 30 SI. Anyway, I'm not sure what the theoretical maximum is, but those are the two 'big' military dropships I've got access to stats on. So, I'd say at least 30, but not more than 80 for a 30k ton dropper, but really there isn't much data to work with!

Also, bonus points if you make a 75k ton or greater assault dropship that moves 5/8 and has NO sub-capital weapons or capital missiles.  I'm betting the list of weapons in each ark gets long enough to need its own record sheet!

[glitterboy2098]

given the sheer number of mechbay's you'd need, it lis likely to be a very big dropship.

a mechbay is 150 tons each. with 132 mechs in a typical mech regiment, that would be 19,800 tons.

add in the wing of 20 Aerospace fighters (one squadron of 6 per mech battalion, plus a command lance) and the total comes to 22,800 tons.
and given you'd want it to have everything it needs to operate, you'd have to throw in a fair bit of cargo space for spare parts, support vehicles (Mobile HQ's, coolant trucks, etc), food...

some features that might be worth adding if you have room are some infantry bays (and the steerage quarters for the infantry that use them) to carry 3-4 foot Platoons around. security and special ops. maybe a lance or two's worth of light vehicle bays to carry scouting VTOL's.


my suggestion would be to aim for a Mammoth size (52,000 tons) or larger. maybe even Behemoth sized (100,000 tons). that way you can devote the mass you need to the drive to get full transatmospheric ability, while still having enough mass to fit the mech capacity you want in alongside the required fuel bunkerage, crew quarters, etc.

[idea weenie]

Cray did a large Dropship, here it is:
Warlord 2.0

Accel is 3/5
40 Mechs, 120 Heavy Vehicles, 120 Light Vehicles, 24 ASF, 9ktons cargo, 2750 steerage passengers (aka on-board infantry), 4 Long Toms, 8 Arrow IV

[Colt Ward]

You know . . . if you were doing a 'all eggs in one basket' regiment carrier . . . put 2 battalions in cradles along with their aero support.  Pack the rest as cargo along with the trucks & cherry pickers the techs will need and then put in a bunch of infantry bays to handle all the techs who will be traveling along.  Finally be sure to include the proper medical and command facilities.

IMO this should be done even more with armor transport, not everything has to be ready to roll off into the attack immediately.

[Hellraiser]

Extra company for the Lyrans??? Seems odd to me.  IIRC...

Aerospace support depends on Regiments but usually is 18 fighters a Wing, which if being assigned on a lance for lance basis covers a Battalion per Wing, which then equals...

54 Fighter for the wing
Optional Command Lances of 2
Optional Command Squadron of 6
= 66 Fighters 

The Lyrans attached a company of Light 'Mechs, based upon fluff all Wolfhounds, to each regiment during the 4th SW. It was to counter-act the problems with scouting.

ANd I got the math wrong before, it should only be 18 fighters.

I've never heard that Lightning Companies were all Wolfhounds.  Where is that coming from? 
It completely contradicts the Wolfhound fluff that it was in limited testing during the 4th SW.   
I would think it was far more likely to be Commandos & Bugs.

Fighters are 18/Mech Regiment, Lyrans don't use extra Command Flights. 
But it is 36 in those units that are upgraded to RCTs.   (usually)

[Hellraiser]

OK after someone made a comment about how small most DropShips are I'm looking at putting pen to paper for a design that I've been kicking around for some time: A DropShip that can lift an entire regiment at once. Now SO says that a regiment consists of 132 'Mechs maximum, but the Lyrans added an extra Company during the 4th SW brings it to 144, add 36 ASF for fighter screen for total bays needed to 180 and I'm rounding up to a nice round 200. So that many bays weighs 30,000 tons. So I'm probably looking at a minimum weight of 50,000 tons.

So questions:
1) The big one: How many guns should I stick on this thing to protect it?
2) Could I get away with thrust of only 2/3 or do I need a minimum of 3/5?
3) How much SI? 

I'd be FAR more interested in something that moves a Regiment of Infantry v/s a regiment of Mechs w/ attached Fighters.
But, since that isn't what you asked.

Use the Mammoth chassis IMHO for ease of design.
Maybe call it the "Mastadon" variant for combat transport.

Of the 144 Mechs, I'm with Colt, a lot of them don't have to be droppable from orbit, save some tonnage & carry a bunch of them as Cargo.

I'd convert one of the cargo bays over to 52 Mech Cubicles allowing a reinforced battalion to drop from orbit & secure the LZ.
Convert another over to your 18/36 Fighter Bays & an infantry battalions worth of bays for all the pilots/techs/command staff, etc etc.

The rest leave as cargo space for more mechs, tanks, or you know, cargo :)

For the chassis itself,  ARMOR ARMOR ARMOR,  Max it out in case its attacked.
You can pump up the SI some but I wouldn't go crazy there.
Its already 20 so I'd leave it at 20 or if you REALLY want more, increase to no more than double (40)

Depending on the era, I'd add MG/SL,  SPL/AMS, &/or Screens for protection.
Finally give it some basic guns to fill out each arc to the soft cap of 12.

Paired LLs/MLs,  LRM 15/20 Racks,  PPCs,  or more advanced ER/Pulse/Gauss/LBX are all options.