Five Colossus DS

[Colt Ward]

Only five Colossus survived the Aramis war to go on the Exodus with General Kerensky.  The surviving Lee dropships were all lost in the later fighting among the Pentagon worlds among the factions

We do not know if the five Colossus survived the Exodus civil war, but they were not remarked to have been destroyed like the Lee DS.  But when looking at the design earlier I noticed . . . with a bit of reshuffling it would have been ideal for a combined arms cluster- or even the initial Clan clusters going into Operation Klondike.  Three Mech trinaries, two heavy vehicle trinaries, and two infantry stars- which would unfortunately have put all the eggs in one basket for any single Clan at the time.

When the Clans had grown toumans but before casting aside vehicles from Nic's organizational structure (3 mech trinaries, 1 veh trinary, 1 infantry trinary) then it would have been excellent as a transport for that sort of unit though it would have had extra vehicle space.  Later Clans that stuck to combined arms- Hell's Horses, Star Adders, Blood Spirits, and secondline forces with the big Clans like the Bears would have been able to use such a dropship (or to recommission the Lees).

So which Clans would have claimed the Colossus from the caches and how soon?  Would it have been a ship put to use for Operation Revival, or perhaps better the Horses' invasion of the Wolf OZ?  Maybe they were claimed by the Invaders to shuttle garrison forces?

IMO it make sense for them to use it since they top out for combat transports at the Overlord C- not even sure they used the old Triumph for conventional forces.

[Jellico]

To what end? Battlemechs, battlearmor and ASF are the point end. Tanks and infantry can be shuffled around in Behemoth IICs.

[Colt Ward]

Horses, Spirits and I want to say Adders have frontline clusters that have vehicles included. The star of infantry could just as easily be a 2nd star of BA, weight is the same IIRC. Crusader Wolves used secondline clusters to raid during the '60s and they were supposed to have vehicles included.  I want to say your Bears had some that were the same manner in FMWC.

I also asked what would have been the time it was most likely to be pulled between Klondike & Revival.

And unless it snuck in somewhere, I am pretty sure there is no Behemoth IIC.

[Wotan]

I wondered why they didn't use something like the Fortress. I mean the Excalibur was introduced after the Exodus. But DS like this would be very usefull for Horses, Spirits or some other clans.

[Gaiiten]

Pre-invasion the Fortress-class does not fit into the Clan style of warfare, imho.

Post invasion, especially for the IS Clans they recognized the need for such dropships (as to the Polaris DS).

[Jellico]

How is it useful? A Vehicle Bay offers repair facilities and a faster unloading time. At least a Mech Bay offers combat drops.

Given that tanks are essentially defensive platforms and will very rarely need to be deployed in a hurry I am starting to question the need for vehicle transports.

[Wotan]

Fot most clans that is correct. But we have a number of clans that use tanks in attack units or even their frontline clusters. For them a dedicated transport is needed.

[marauder648]

Fot most clans that is correct. But we have a number of clans that use tanks in attack units or even their frontline clusters. For them a dedicated transport is needed.

Aye, we know that the Horses included Tanks in their front line units and made extensive use of Combined Arms Nova's and these guys would probably have developed either a variant of something or their own dropship.

[Robroy]

There is the Outpost, based on the Fortress IIRC.

[Wotan]

But the Outpost carries what? A mixed trinary with a bit of ASF support, that doesn't match any organisational structure.
A Fortress can carry a mix battalion, a colossus a mixed regiment.

[Robroy]

Oh I agree it is not very well thought out, it could of been better to drop the ASF and speed for a binary each of mech armor and infantry.

The point is they did design and make front line combine arms dropships

[truetanker]

Ahem...

Horses DO use the Lion Clan AND the Lion WD... that's 10 mechs and 12 Heavy tanks!

This'll allow a Star of Heavy tanks and a Rouge Point of Atrillery, aka Huey AAA and the like!

IF I was a Galaxy Commander, I'd include a Lion-C with it's Cluster of 10 Stars of Infantry and Supporting Binary of Mech, a pair of Lion WD's: informal Binaries of Mech and Tank Stars, with attached Rouge Artillery Points included. An Overlord-C, with supporting Sassanid BA carrier, an Outpost standard and an Outpost-3070 Refit. Resulting in over 25 Mechs, 4 ASf, 6 Stars of BA, 100-125 PBI, double Stars of Tanks AND a Star of Protos to come to the field. Now I'll just assign a Carrier or two to even out my force...

So 3 Odyssey should carry these with no problems... Oh and my Command Union-C.

Oh wait, I do... this is my standard Clan Stone Lion Galaxy, generic... I tend to assign a pair of Hunters to this as well... so there!  :drool: xp

TT

[marauder648]

I think that for simple ease of carrying, it would be better to have a dropship can can carry both, instead of having to use two ships you put your forces in a single, heavily protected dropship.