Mule Class Dropship - Retconned into carrying more than a skeleton crew :)

[Hellraiser]

Turns out my wife had 2-person rooms too back in 1984.  I guess it was just the Navy still stuck with WWII style barracks...

It really did depend on the base & even more the unit.

Since on 1 I moved between 2 different styles.
I had the WW2 Wood & the 60's block w/ 8-bunk rooms both on the same base.

The barracks w/ the 2-Man College Dorms was BRAND NEW as I mentioned, still had painters tape as the crews worked their way from Company to Company finishing them off.
But that was for my Battalion that just transferred there from another base & then filled out with AIT grads for the remainder of the Battalion.
We were on a hilltop by ourselves.
Go down to main post where the MP & Engineer units had their barracks & those were a different style/age.

Back here in the states again, my Battalion had WW2 style but other units didn't.
So I think it's an example of as the bases got bigger or filled out or just renovated over the course of the last century+.

[Daryk]

So some got lucky, and others didn't... sounds like the '80s to me! :D

[RifleMech]

I like it and I do think there should be more passenger space on dropships. I'm sure some things can be bought in bulk but others, I'm sure have buyers traveling from planet to planet selecting things to ship back home to sell. It's not like everything can be done by HPG.

And like I said in the other thread, I think that many dropships would have been modified over the years so the rules should apply to new modifications. And most of those would be to newer more recently obtained ships.

I don't think there's custom fitters & builders in every airport but the airports are big enough to allow maintenance and repairs. It may take time to ship in a new engine but they can still install it. If they can do that, without going back to Boeing's factory, they should be able to handle changing seating and cargo capacity. That's why I think needing a spaceyard is overkill for some modifications. Trying to turn a Leopard's ASF bay into a Mech Bay?  That would require a yard. Pulling out the ASF bays and replacing them with quarters and bays? That should be doable at a spaceport. Whether the spaceport has the parts and personnel to perform the modifications is another matter.

[idea weenie]

I like it and I do think there should be more passenger space on dropships. I'm sure some things can be bought in bulk but others, I'm sure have buyers traveling from planet to planet selecting things to ship back home to sell. It's not like everything can be done by HPG.

And like I said in the other thread, I think that many dropships would have been modified over the years so the rules should apply to new modifications. And most of those would be to newer more recently obtained ships.

I don't think there's custom fitters & builders in every airport but the airports are big enough to allow maintenance and repairs. It may take time to ship in a new engine but they can still install it. If they can do that, without going back to Boeing's factory, they should be able to handle changing seating and cargo capacity. That's why I think needing a spaceyard is overkill for some modifications. Trying to turn a Leopard's ASF bay into a Mech Bay?  That would require a yard. Pulling out the ASF bays and replacing them with quarters and bays? That should be doable at a spaceport. Whether the spaceport has the parts and personnel to perform the modifications is another matter.

A 2d6 roll with penalties based on the planet and local spaceport's tech level, and bonuses based on time and money spent?  I.e. if the Dropship crew only has access to a very low-tech planet and a patch of bare ground, then it will take a lot of time and money to produce the necessary equipment to smelt the necessary materials from raw ores.  The nice part is that you will eventually get a basic form of Foot Infantry Bay that can be used for better life support.

And the locals will hopefully be taking lots of notes on the process so they can up-tech the rest of their planet.

Higher-tech planets likely have a local manufacturing facility that produces new Foot Infantry Bays every few days.  That manufacturing facility will also have a variety of manuals they can consul to install their new Bay into your Dropship, no matter what floor and configuration you select.  Now if you annoy the CEO of that company and they put you way down on the waiting list, that is another matter.

[RifleMech]

A 2d6 roll with penalties based on the planet and local spaceport's tech level, and bonuses based on time and money spent?  I.e. if the Dropship crew only has access to a very low-tech planet and a patch of bare ground, then it will take a lot of time and money to produce the necessary equipment to smelt the necessary materials from raw ores.  The nice part is that you will eventually get a basic form of Foot Infantry Bay that can be used for better life support.

And the locals will hopefully be taking lots of notes on the process so they can up-tech the rest of their planet.

Higher-tech planets likely have a local manufacturing facility that produces new Foot Infantry Bays every few days.  That manufacturing facility will also have a variety of manuals they can consul to install their new Bay into your Dropship, no matter what floor and configuration you select.  Now if you annoy the CEO of that company and they put you way down on the waiting list, that is another matter.

I agree. There need to be modifiers for customizing dropships outside of a bay.

Why would a dropship be adding infantry bays on a primitive planet?

Infantry Bays are tech A so they can be built almost anyplace. Higher tech planets may build them faster but they wouldn't be difficult to get a hold of either. It's getting them installed that's the issue.

If the planet is so primitive that they can't make them, they're not going to need them. Although I suppose the Roman's or Chinese could have made a primitive equivalent for use on a few massive ships or fortresses but I doubt they'd work on a dropship. It'd also be expensive so infantry would probably be stuck in compartments.

[idea weenie]

I agree. There need to be modifiers for customizing dropships outside of a bay.

Why would a dropship be adding infantry bays on a primitive planet?

Infantry Bays are tech A so they can be built almost anyplace. Higher tech planets may build them faster but they wouldn't be difficult to get a hold of either. It's getting them installed that's the issue.

If the planet is so primitive that they can't make them, they're not going to need them. Although I suppose the Roman's or Chinese could have made a primitive equivalent for use on a few massive ships or fortresses but I doubt they'd work on a dropship. It'd also be expensive so infantry would probably be stuck in compartments.

The Dropship is adding them to itself on the Primitive planet because they need the bays and there is no other place to get them?

For some reason the Dropship needs the extra Bays, and the locals decide to learn as much as possible about this new process, and all the steps needed to get to this new process.  The Dropship crew can take time to install the new Bays, using various pulleys and similar tools to move the parts into place.


(I have been on a binge of blogs from acoup, talking about medieval technology and its limitations.  One page was talking about the sheer amount of wood that would have been needed for Saruman's Uruk-hai army.)

[Daryk]

An interesting read, thanks for the link! :)

[ImperialistDog]

16 bunks for a 32 man platoon - everyone gets to hotsheet!!

Nobody ever uses the bunks in basic, you make the bunks then sleep on the tiled floor beside or under the bunks because the barracks have no air conditioning and you don't want to mess up the made bunk.

[RifleMech]

The Dropship is adding them to itself on the Primitive planet because they need the bays and there is no other place to get them?

For some reason the Dropship needs the extra Bays, and the locals decide to learn as much as possible about this new process, and all the steps needed to get to this new process.  The Dropship crew can take time to install the new Bays, using various pulleys and similar tools to move the parts into place.


(I have been on a binge of blogs from acoup, talking about medieval technology and its limitations.  One page was talking about the sheer amount of wood that would have been needed for Saruman's Uruk-hai army.)

Why would the need them unless they're planning to take slaves? And if they were planning to do that, wouldn't they have had the bays installed before landing going to the planet?

How primitive is the planet? A Tech A planet isn't going to be able to build the filters and such the bays need to function. Even if they wanted to learn, they don't have the technological ability to replicate them. The Dropship crew could obtain bunks and lockers for people carried in a cargo bay but not quarters. Those "passengers" would be more comfortable than they would be if they slept on the deck but their life support would still be limited.