Leopard Dropship

[Achtung Minen!]

Dropships travel between jumpships and planets with conventional thrust, meaning the artificial gravity created by constant acceleration pulls towards the dropship's thrusters. This makes a lot of sense when the thrusters are at the "bottom" of the dropship, as it is with something like a Union class. But what about a dropship like the Leopard, where the thrusters are at the back of the ship? Do crew have to remain seated for the week-long trip to or from the planet?

[Hythos]

Is good point.
Though, because of that simple fact, I'd expect it would have 'tilted' accommodations instead of that like an Aluminum Falcon...

[Hellraiser]

The Leopard, along with most of the aerodyne dropships,  has 2 different exhaust drives.   One in the back for travel in atmosphere,  1 in the bottom for travel to the jump point.

Exceptions to this..... 

Vengeance which only has the Rear Drive & can not enter atmosphere.  Its oriented like a Warship/Spheroid Dropper with many levels of small decks.

Avenger which only has the rear drive but has configurable rooms/furniture/walls so that you can reorient during inter-system travel v/s parked on the tarmac.

Probably another couple that I can't think of atm.


Pretty much all of them have 2 drives & use their "VTOL" drive for travel to the jump point, so its going to be traveling Dorsal side forward.

[marauder648]

Lemme get this straight then. So when in space an aerodyne travels basically with its nose down and aft up right? Or would they go nose forwards towards destination like a jet?

[guardiandashi]

Lemme get this straight then. So when in space an aerodyne travels basically with its nose down and aft up right? Or would they go nose forwards towards destination like a jet?

it depends, in general you have to remember its supposed to have 2 drives, a main drive in the belly, and a sub drive in the tail, so when it flies in atmosphere it flies like a plane, using its belly drive, it flies with its belly being "down" and its back being "up" so that gravity/thrust, is always pulling people towards the floor.

[marauder648]

So

*nose*<-------- *engine* In atmosphere


                *Aft*
                   *
                   |
<<D.O.T      |*engine*   In space
                   |
              *nose*

D.O.T = Direction of travel

[mbear]

So

*nose*<-------- *engine* In atmosphere


                *Aft*
                   *
                   |
<<D.O.T      |*engine*   In space
                   |
              *nose*

D.O.T = Direction of travel

Assuming the engine is belly mounted, yes. That's how I read it anyway.

[Weirdo]

That is correct.

Mind you, that's during normal transits. If a fight breaks out, they go back to "jet" style orientation, since that's the direction the guns are pointing. Presumably the crew stays strapped in and/or are trained in dealing with the  g-forces in odd directions.

[mbear]

That is correct.

Mind you, that's during normal transits. If a fight breaks out, they go back to "jet" style orientation, since that's the direction the guns are pointing. Presumably the crew stays strapped in and/or are trained in dealing with the  g-forces in odd directions.

During a fight, maybe the crew kicks off both engines at once to really mess with opposing targeting systems. "He's going straight sir. Wait! He just dropped five kilometers! Crap!"

[Weirdo]

You know how large craft have two different fuel efficiencies, one for tactical fuel use and one for long transits? It's not confirmed, but my headcanon is that while spheroids have a dual-purpose drive, aerodyne belly drives are transit-mode only, they just can't manage the rapid throttle changes that would make them useful in combat.

It's not a perfect headcanon, but it helps explain in my mind why aerodynes don't pay vastly more tonnage for essentially mounting two engines.

[JadeHellbringer]

Is good point.
Though, because of that simple fact, I'd expect it would have 'tilted' accommodations instead of that like an Aluminum Falcon...

"What the hell is an Aluminum Falcon???"

[Colt Ward]

That is correct.

Mind you, that's during normal transits. If a fight breaks out, they go back to "jet" style orientation, since that's the direction the guns are pointing. Presumably the crew stays strapped in and/or are trained in dealing with the  g-forces in odd directions.

I would imagine the interior is also a lot like the Shuttle was, hatches are going to be placed to make it easy to use in either 'gravitational' direction.  Also remember that while we may think the DS is always under 1g thrust . . . its not going to be the case for most DS.  If that JS has a 10 day charge or whatever and you have a 7 day transit to the JS, then you are going to fly at whatever thrust is the most economical setting (which I am not going to guess at) for the specific thrust of whatever you are using as fuel.  Typically this means you are not going to be maxing out and especially not going into overthrust since that takes more time off the clock on your parts let alone eating more fuel.

[Maingunnery]

The ability to secure people/cargo fast and have configurable or multi-directional rooms/furniture/walls should be standard on all Dropships (but especially Aerodynes). 
Anything else is just an expensive deathtrap/snow-globe.  xp

As far as the Leopard goes, personally I consider its belly drive to be nothing more then redirected thrust from the actual engines. It really doesn't have enough space for anything else.

[bluedragon7]

You know how large craft have two different fuel efficiencies, one for tactical fuel use and one for long transits? It's not confirmed, but my headcanon is that while spheroids have a dual-purpose drive, aerodyne belly drives are transit-mode only, they just can't manage the rapid throttle changes that would make them useful in combat.

It's not a perfect headcanon, but it helps explain in my mind why aerodynes don't pay vastly more tonnage for essentially mounting two engines.

I always thought of it that way as well, the belly drive being simple and optimised for long range in-system travel only.

[Ruger]

I imagine the belly drive on aerodyne DropShips to be like the drive on Slave I in Star Wars...

Ruger

[VhenRa]

You know how large craft have two different fuel efficiencies, one for tactical fuel use and one for long transits? It's not confirmed, but my headcanon is that while spheroids have a dual-purpose drive, aerodyne belly drives are transit-mode only, they just can't manage the rapid throttle changes that would make them useful in combat.

It's not a perfect headcanon, but it helps explain in my mind why aerodynes don't pay vastly more tonnage for essentially mounting two engines.

Yeah, that's my headcanon too. It also explains why its so difficult to use it for in atmosphere operations (and dangerous).

[Hellraiser]

Lemme get this straight then. So when in space an aerodyne travels basically with its nose down and aft up right? Or would they go nose forwards towards destination like a jet?

Technically the Nose & Aft can be pointing any direction (Up, Down, Left, Right, spinning in a circle like the space needle, etc etc....  yeah, picture that one)

But yes, the Top/Dorsal of the ship is facing DoT & the Bottom/Belly of the Ship faces away from DoT & has the exhaust coming out of it.

Basically an Aerodyne when traveling in deep space, moves how a Spheroid would, not an aerodyne, it just looks funny since they are not spheroid in shape.

[mbear]

You know how large craft have two different fuel efficiencies, one for tactical fuel use and one for long transits? It's not confirmed, but my headcanon is that while spheroids have a dual-purpose drive, aerodyne belly drives are transit-mode only, they just can't manage the rapid throttle changes that would make them useful in combat.

It's not a perfect headcanon, but it helps explain in my mind why aerodynes don't pay vastly more tonnage for essentially mounting two engines.

Sounds sort of like a modern CODOG system, where you have a diesel engine optimized for cruising, and a gas turbine for tactical use (sprinting). Thing is with that engine setup, you can use one or the other but not both at the same time.

[Weirdo]

Sounds sort of like a modern CODOG system, where you have a diesel engine optimized for cruising, and a gas turbine for tactical use (sprinting). Thing is with that engine setup, you can use one or the other but not both at the same time.

EXACTLY. In the case of aerodyne DropShips, the diesel is pointing down out your belly, and the gas is pointing out your tail end.

[R.Tempest]

 Has the Leopard CV finally been granted a transit drive or its fighter still have land on their wingtips if outside a gravity well.

[jimdigris]

If memory serves correctly, the fluff in the earlier Aerotech books said that the Leopard's furnishings are built to be tilted to accommodate the direction of "gravity".

[Scotty]

EXACTLY. In the case of aerodyne DropShips, the diesel is pointing down out your belly, and the gas is pointing out your tail end.

Having two different engines seems significantly more of an engineering hurdle than just strapping everything down to the "walls" or having a reconfigurable internal orientation.

This is especially difficult to reconcile in the Leopard's case, where we have minis that very clearly do not have engines mounted under-belly.

[Tai Dai Cultist]

Having two different engines seems significantly more of an engineering hurdle than just strapping everything down to the "walls" or having a reconfigurable internal orientation.

This is especially difficult to reconcile in the Leopard's case, where we have minis that very clearly do not have engines mounted under-belly.

Page 6* of the DropShips & JumpShips Operations Manual has a cutaway view showing the deckplan for a Leopard.  It has a ventral transit drive.  Of course, its location well aft of the center of mass implies some bizzare center of gravity issues.


*= The DS&JS SB is bizarrely broken into two volumes inside one cover. The first half of the book is the ComStar Intelligence Summary, and the latter is the Operations Manual.

[Tai Dai Cultist]

Page 6* of the DropShips & JumpShips Operations Manual has a cutaway view showing the deckplan for a Leopard.  It has a ventral transit drive.  Of course, its location well aft of the center of mass implies some bizzare center of gravity issues.


*= The DS&JS SB is bizarrely broken into two volumes inside one cover. The first half of the book is the ComStar Intelligence Summary, and the latter is the Operations Manual.

NM, I'm an idiot.  That's a Buccaneer. 

Still, I am positive I remember seeing artwork in one book or another of a Leopard in transit riding a drive plume coming out of its belly.  Trying to find that again.

[Hythos]

It is a Buc, but could the original image of the Leopard actually show drive units and not "landing gear"?

[Nightlord01]

Page 6* of the DropShips & JumpShips Operations Manual has a cutaway view showing the deckplan for a Leopard.  It has a ventral transit drive.  Of course, its location well aft of the center of mass implies some bizzare center of gravity issues.


*= The DS&JS SB is bizarrely broken into two volumes inside one cover. The first half of the book is the ComStar Intelligence Summary, and the latter is the Operations Manual.

Doesn't imply bizarre CoG, just means the CoG is well aft of the centre point, which is quite reasonable.

[Hellraiser]

If memory serves correctly, the fluff in the earlier Aerotech books said that the Leopard's furnishings are built to be tilted to accommodate the direction of "gravity".

Your thinking of the Avenger.

Its the only Aerodyne that can enter atmosphere & only has a rear drive.   (To my knowledge)

Everyone else either has 2 drives or doesn't enter atmosphere so it only needs 1.