How I define an airborne drop is when you have your forces, in this case a battalion of of forces, in this case 36 Battlemechs, dropping from say 500 meters directly into a hot LZ.
Gotcha.
Those exact circumstances will cause the DropShip to crash and be completely destroyed the second it loses 1 control roll.
So follow up question:
- Is it important to you to hotdrop 36 Mechs
Or
- Is it important to you to drop those *while* the DropShip is something that can be shot at?
If the former, then the altitude should be raised until ground fire is no longer an option.
If the latter, then you should consider a contingency in case the DropShip crashes faster than expected.
You are 4th Battalion commander of the Warren PMM. You were late to the party due to Jumpship malfunction.
I like the premise. So they're cavalry by dint of only just now showing up.
Your battalion is composed of mainly heavy and medium designs, but the battalion does have a lance of light recon Battlemechs and a lance of Assaults.
Those recon guys should drop last, assuming they're not among dropship debris.
Command wants a airborne drop directly on top of the HQ element of the I Corps to disrupt command and control as the Warren PMM breaks out. You have a escort of 8 aerospace fighters, 8 Corsairs, for CAP and strafing runs as needed.
How likely are 8 fighters to be confronted by the Taurians?
Now what Dropship(s) are you choosing?
Ah, if we can have multiple, then several of the suggestions in this thread are solid. Any permutation of "as many as you'll let me" will significantly reduce the odds of a single crash removing a significant portion of the incoming force. Leopards for example can drop all 4 of their 'Mechs in 1 pass. (and also can bring 2 of the 8 fighters you have, each)
Unions need several turns because of their doors.
Bonus: When the door open and the first Battlemechs drop this is playing over the I Corp comm frequencies for psy-ops.
Funny!
I think it's the FS dropping into the Taurian HQ, not the other way around. Given the superior FS position, my only question is "Why??" Land the battalion and reinforce the forces encircling the Taurians without risking losses to a combat drop.
Well, the starting premise is: combat drop on the HQ, so the supporting narrative needs reasons for that to happen, not reasons why it wouldn't happen. Maybe their commander made a booboo. Maybe their commander wants the 4th battalion dead. Or at least humiliated. And he can break out regardless of what happens in the HQ fight. Maybe the MIIO handed him a napkin with a strange suggestion on it.
I would say that if I'm breaking out of an encirclement, having the opposition lack the kind of cohesion to both realize what's up, and then have a reduced ability to coordinate a response is pretty attractive. I'd likely choose as you did myself, and have them hit the encirclement from the outside, though one downside is that the move will be telegraphed. And one advantage of a wacky plan like combat dropping the hostile HQ is that they'll think you're setting up for a ground attack for quite a while on your way down to the surface, since that'd be the logical thing to do.
Now sometimes doing the unexpected is how legendary victories are achieved. Sometimes that's how you snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. But for our purposes, OP needs that combat drop.
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