Tell me about...the Carrier-class in a dropship fight

[Alan Grant]

I am trying to assess the Carrier-class dropship, not from the perspective of a fighter carrier, but from the perspective of a combat dropship. Obviously these ships aren't put front and center to fight other dropships often, but I'm working on some things where one or more of these vessels do end up in combat with other dropships.

I'm wondering how they fare against other droppers. For example, their strengths and weaknesses, and against what other classes (Inner Sphere or Clan) they are comparable to in terms of firepower/armor/SI/speed/maneuverability. Basically what they could realistically beat in the fight, and what they can't.

I'm talking about the Carrier dropship operating alone, no fighters. For one reason or another there are no fighters involved. Just the ship and crew.

[Alexander Knight]

Based on AS stats, if a Carrier tangles with a "modern" Avenger or Achilles, it's going to get handed its lunch.  Conversely, the Claymore will probably lose to the Carrier.

The Carrier's strongest firepower is protecting the rear, which makes sense for a fighter carrier, coming in at 12/12/8/3 versus 6/6/3/3 for the nose and 5/5/3/- for the wings.

Compared to the Leopard CV which has firepower of 5/6/4/- on the nose, 3/4/4/- on the wings, and 3/3/1/- aft.  The Leopard's big problem is he can't stay at Long range due to the Carrier's superior speed.

[Diablo48]

I am not exactly an expert so you should take this with a grain of salt, but when I look at the Carrier I see very good firepower both fore and aft and above average maneuverability with worryingly thin armor.

What that says to me is that you can dictate range to most DropShips and escape if needed.  You also have a real chance of avoiding the heaviest fighters along with the firepower to make a mess of anyone coming after you, but that thin armor means there are very good odds you will be gutted in the process so I would be wary of throwing this at anything with any kind of decent arsenal.

Things get much better with your fighters to screen for you because they can keep the enemy back while you take advantage of your speed to fire from long range and let you use your guns without too much risk to the armor, but it sounds like this is not an option at the moment.

[Rage]

Like many Clan Dropships, the Carrier-class can function as an assault unit in a pinch. Thing is, it's got some serious problems if it does. It can do a fair amount of damage, yes, but it's got some serious heat woes facing forward, which limits it severely. That and all those guns are more for defense anyway, even if they're laid out in such a strange manner (especially the point defense guns). It'll hammer the hell out of a Claymore or obsolete Avenger, though, and possibly give the Kuan Ti and/or Lung Wang a fair run, but it's in serious trouble if it faces something fast and tough like the Achilles of any kind.

[Nikas_Zekeval]

The design probably make sense in the context of Clan dueling rules.

First is safecon.  Rather than have warriors die (and be killed) without being able to fight back it is customary to grant the attacker safe passage to a staging area just outside the dueling area.  That is a chance of glory for the attackers, and more glory for the defenders if they succeed.

Second, which is the greater glory in a space furball.  "I shot down Warrior so-and-so in an epic dogfight?"  or "I splashed an enemy dropship".  Particularly since dropship on fighter it has much heavier armor, so it is unlikely to be a solo job.

Which means the design is primarly a taxi for getting fighters to the duel, and is armored enough to get close enough to the fight to deploy it's Aerospace star if the enemy refuses to grant Safecon.  Or handle the odd stray fighter if you don't have one free to challenge him.

[Rage]

Pretty much. Hell, just look at how poorly armed the Overlord is.

[wellspring]

The design probably make sense in the context of Clan dueling rules.

First is safecon.  Rather than have warriors die (and be killed) without being able to fight back it is customary to grant the attacker safe passage to a staging area just outside the dueling area.  That is a chance of glory for the attackers, and more glory for the defenders if they succeed.

Second, which is the greater glory in a space furball.  "I shot down Warrior so-and-so in an epic dogfight?"  or "I splashed an enemy dropship".  Particularly since dropship on fighter it has much heavier armor, so it is unlikely to be a solo job.

Which means the design is primarly a taxi for getting fighters to the duel, and is armored enough to get close enough to the fight to deploy it's Aerospace star if the enemy refuses to grant Safecon.  Or handle the odd stray fighter if you don't have one free to challenge him.

Also, consider that the captain and certain senior officers will be Warrior caste-- not obviously the cream of the crop or they'd be fighter jocks, but warriors nonetheless. Giving at least token combat capability probably made it easier to get funding from the Ravens' clan council, and ships like this attract and retain a better class of warriors than Unions. Which you'd need in a major combat situation.