Dropship bays

[kaliban]

I am still getting familiar to Dropship rules and I understood that if a Light Vehicle bay carries one vehicle up to 50ton and a Heavy Vehicle bay carries one vehicle up to 100tons.

If my understanding is correct what is the point to transport smaller vehicles and not maximize the available space?

Same for mechs, if you carry 4 mechs in one bay, why bring a Light Lance and not Scout lance of Atlas?

Is there any optional rule that adjust the carrying capacity to the total tonnage?

[PuppyLikesLaserPointers]

The primary reason for this is the money - you cannot always get the expensive and powerful armors with higher tonnage. The secondary reason is, the very slow speed of 100 tonner.

[AlphaMirage]

There are quirks that allow multiple Mechs in a single bay. However there is no such thing as a smaller mech bay. This gives the commander flexibility with their force. If all you think you need is a light lance bring that. Only a few problems require a lance of assault mechs and if you don't need to risk that equipment you shouldn't. Remember Mechs were rare for several hundred years

[kaliban]

The primary reason for this is the money - you cannot always get the expensive and powerful armors with higher tonnage. The secondary reason is, the very slow speed of 100 tonner.

maybe for mechs but not really for combat vehicles which cost much less. For example, I considered to use Harasser hovercrafts in my mercenary lance but found it a bad idea as the vehicle bay holds one vehicle up to 50tons and will go with Condor hovercrafts that are 50tons. The cost different difference is immaterial compared to the cost of the dropship

[kaliban]

There are quirks that allow multiple Mechs in a single bay. However there is no such thing as a smaller mech bay. This gives the commander flexibility with their force. If all you think you need is a light lance bring that. Only a few problems require a lance of assault mechs and if you don't need to risk that equipment you shouldn't. Remember Mechs we're rare for several hundred years

Exactly what I am looking for. Where do I find this quirk described?

[Death_from_above]

https://www.sarna.net/wiki/Design_Quirks

Compact 'Mech [BT, AS, SBF][edit]
BattleTech and Strategic Battleforce

Compact 'Mechs are especially small and easy to transport. They take up half the normal space in a transport's 'Mechbay, though they will still take up a full Repair bay. Two Compact 'Mechs may be loaded into one standard Transport bay.
Points: 1
Applicable to: Light or Medium BattleMechs and IndustrialMechs with the Narrow/Low Profile Positive Quirk.[15]

[kaliban]

https://www.sarna.net/wiki/Design_Quirks

Compact 'Mech [BT, AS, SBF][edit]
BattleTech and Strategic Battleforce

Compact 'Mechs are especially small and easy to transport. They take up half the normal space in a transport's 'Mechbay, though they will still take up a full Repair bay. Two Compact 'Mechs may be loaded into one standard Transport bay.
Points: 1
Applicable to: Light or Medium BattleMechs and IndustrialMechs with the Narrow/Low Profile Positive Quirk.[15]

Thanks. Is there anything similar to combat vehicles?

[Kovax]

I am still getting familiar to Dropship rules and I understood that if a Light Vehicle bay carries one vehicle up to 50ton and a Heavy Vehicle bay carries one vehicle up to 100tons.

If my understanding is correct what is the point to transport smaller vehicles and not maximize the available space?

The point is that if you have a lance of Vedettes or Condors, you can bring them.  If you have a lance of Scorpions or J. Edgars instead, then you bring those.  Either will fit, regardless of whether you're "maxing your tonnage" or not.  An attacking force should try to utilize the available tonnage, provided that doing so doesn't compromise the mission profile (such as bringing a lance of 3/5 Assaults on a raid where speed is critical), but it doesn't have to.  You can bring additional tonnage as cargo, if necessary, which only pays for its actual tonnage, although it will take far longer to unload and/or re-load.

The game being a FASA creation, it does not necessarily make sense, so rather than seeing a large concentration of vehicle designs at 50 tons, which one might expect as a result of the transportation limitations, we have a plethora of lighter vehicles, and several more in the "slightly bigger than will fit in a light vehilce bay" category.

[Weirdo]

Consider that bays are not the only way to carry combat vehicles around. They're good for quickly loading/offloading units and providing drop/repair facilities, but it's still perfectly reasonable to carry units in bulk cargo, which is solely based on their tonnage. You can put big heavy tanks in your cubicles to quickly roll out after landing and secure your LZ, then spend an hour or two offloading your lighter stuff before your advance.

I get that this approach won't work for lightning-fast in-and-out raids, but it's something to consider for any mission where you plan to be sticking around for a few weeks or longer.

[Lorcan Nagle]

basically, you can fit 4 light vehicle bays into the same space as 2 heavy bays.  That's 4 vehicles you can deploy down the ramp and into combat.  Sure they're smaller vehicles but quantity has a quality.

[CVB]

The game being a FASA creation, it does not necessarily make sense, so rather than seeing a large concentration of vehicle designs at 50 tons, which one might expect as a result of the transportation limitations, we have a plethora of lighter vehicles, and several more in the "slightly bigger than will fit in a light vehilce bay" category.

(empasis added)

Either that, or (as I think would be more sensible from an in-universe perspective) several more weight categories of bays, or even variable size bays, would be designed.

Although I'm a bit puzzled what it actually is that makes bays so much faster at unloading compared to cargo/open parking spaces. I was once present when a car carrier ship was unloaded at a harbour where a car was driven down the stern ramp every couple of seconds. The car handling crew claimed that they could load and tie down almost 7,000 cars in 24 hours.

[dgorsman]

The car carrier example is more of a bay than cargo.  Cargo, would be the cars in seacans stacked on an intermodal transport that need to be craned off.

[CVB]

That would work, although it would resemble a hypothetical variable size bay. They sure won't waste any area when parking microcars just because they would later also park motorhomes.

[Daryk]

Any mass not housed in your vehicle bays can be stuffed in your cargo bays as cargo as I understand it...