Design Challenge - LCT capable dropship

[Stormrider]

Okay folks, Has anybody come up with - designed - or stumbled across a LCT capable dropper ??

If so, feel free to do what you do best please.

"Thanks for your support"

Stormrider

[Wereling]

Pardon me for being thick, but what do you mean by "LCT capable"?

[Stormrider]

Davion late Jihad / Dark age era combat formation. Essentially a paired down Regimental Combat Team.

[Dragon Cat]

You're never going to get a whole LCT on one DropShip

I'd personally suggest that the Davions have the components already the Conquistador, Excalibur combo is a good start you'd also want a couple of vehicle/infantry haulers too

An LCT is a Baby RCT but it's still a decent sized multi regiment unit

[Vition2]

You're never going to get a whole LCT on one DropShip

Well you can, you're just going to end up with something the size of a Mammoth.  If you want everything in it's own nice and proper bay, then you are looking at very close to 35,000 tons, adding any reasonable amount of cargo for rearmament/repairs then you are looking at a significant increase.  If you are willing to shove some/most of it into base cargo compartments, you can probably decrease that by about 15%, maybe 20%.

Anyway you look at it, it's going to be a BIG ship and the epitome of "all your eggs in one basket."

[Terrace]

You're never going to get a whole LCT on one DropShip

I'd personally suggest that the Davions have the components already the Conquistador, Excalibur combo is a good start you'd also want a couple of vehicle/infantry haulers too

An LCT is a Baby RCT but it's still a decent sized multi regiment unit

Agreed. But the last time this subject came up, we agreed that a "typical" LCT could be carried by a Colossus, and Excalibur, and a Hercules, all three of which can be found in the AFFS inventory.

[Vition2]

Well, here's an attempt.  I didn't bother calculating the costs as that really isn't going to matter on the scale of a Great Houses' available funds.  As a note, I've only included bay quarters for Techs, assuming AsTechs will be assigned from the world's workforce, if you want them included, drop the total cargo capacity by about 600 tons (570 if you want to be exact).  Roughly half the assigned vehicles and battle armor are stored as bulk cargo, the other half, including the artillery contingent should be enough to secure the immediate landing zone for everything else to be unpacked and off-loaded.  The light vehicles include a total of a regiment of cavalry and an additional 2 battalions of transport assets.

Code: [Select]

Albion-class LCT Transport Dropship
Chassis
 Type: Dropship
 Shape: Spheroid
 Tech Base: Inner Sphere
 Mass: 50,000 tons
Engines and Control Systems
 Engine                    9,750     40,250
  Safe Thrust  3
  Max Thrust   5
 Fuel       2500 pts         255     39,995
 Structure    50           5,000     34,995
 Bridge                      375     34,620
Armor
 Heavy F-A  1986 pts         180     34,440
 Nose        516
 Left Side   490
 Right Side  490
 Aft         490
Heat Sinks   257 (514)
Equipment                     20481  13,959
 BattleMechs Bays         48   7200
 Heavy Vehicles Bays      84   8400
  Inc. Artillery
 Light Vehicles Bays      72   3600
  Inc. battalion of transports
 Battle Armor Bays       512   1024
  Infantry Bays (Techs)   19     95
 Officers                  3     30
 Crew                     11     77
 Gunnery Officers          2     20
 Gunnery Crew              5     35
Weapons (N/RS/LS/A)             620  13,339
 Arrow IV      6 (3/3/3/0)  60   90
  Ammo: 180                      36
 LB10-X AC    12 (3/3/3/3)  24  132
  Ammo: 240                      24
 Laser AMS     4 (1/1/1/1) 140    6
 LPL           8 (2/2/2/2)  80   56
 ELRM-20      12 (3/3/3/3) 144  216
  Ammo: 240                      60
 
Cargo:
 Cargo Bay 1: 4 Doors
  BattleMechs (48)
  Heavy Vehicles (84)
 Cargo Bay 2: 2 Doors
  Light Vehicles (72)
  Battle Armor (512)
  Infantry (19)
 Cargo Bay 3: 2 Doors
  Flex Cargo - 7,840 tons
  Vehicular Cargo
   Light Vehicles (108 at 40 tons each)
   Heavy Vehicles (36 at 80 tons each)
   Battle Armor (512 at 1.25 tons each)


[Korzon77]

I'd note that a question to raise here, is does this have to be capable of combat deploying or is it mainly a transport? If it's mainly a transport, you can get away with some things, but equally, you'll want more room for support echelons and supplies.

[Hellraiser]

Agreed. But the last time this subject came up, we agreed that a "typical" LCT could be carried by a Colossus, and Excalibur, and a Hercules, all three of which can be found in the AFFS inventory.

I doubt you see too many units out there with both a Colossus & Excalibur assigned to them.
They are both very rare ships & any unit would be lucky to have just 1 of them assigned to it.
The Hercules meanwhile was produced in the Lyran half of the nation IIRC & while the Suns probably managed to get a few of them in the split, its not going to be a massive # either.

Far more likely to see an Overlord IMO with a Triumph & a good chunk of the vees being stored as cargo in a Mule.

[Charistoph]

If I was looking to have a sing ship transporting an LCT, I'd probably be looking at a Troop Warship which would have the hospital and repair service for the LCT, and allow the LCT to be dropped across several targets in their own separate drop pods.

But that's just me.

[David CGB]

If I was looking to have a sing ship transporting an LCT, I'd probably be looking at a Troop Warship which would have the hospital and repair service for the LCT, and allow the LCT to be dropped across several targets in their own separate drop pods.

But that's just me.

seconded

[Hellraiser]

Given the LCT is a FedSuns concept & the Robinson had a battalion of mech cubicles for orbital drops............ yeah, I nominate the Robinson :)

[Feign]

Drop pods are great for getting units down, but what about getting them back up?  Either in retreat, or because you have to move to the next planet ASAP, there could be a use for this.

[Cyk0]

Drop pods are great for getting units down, but what about getting them back up?  Either in retreat, or because you have to move to the next planet ASAP, there could be a use for this.

Dropp pods for combat drops multiple lifts from the small crafts that are usually used for supply and strategic redeployments.