Best SAR set up?

[Colt Ward]

Just wondering what you think the best Search And Rescue set up is for the game?

hovercraft?  vtols?

which specific one works best?  do you customize your SAR vehicles for a campaign?

[Moonsword]

VTOLs.  They're somewhat faster on average and can get into places that hovers and WiGEs can't, at least well enough to pull someone out with rescue personnel even if the chopper can't land.  I might be willing to look at fixed-wing support vehicles for longer-range extractions, too, but only prop-driven VSTOL units.

[Colt Ward]

Yeah, I am looking at some of the odd VTOLs, the ones with under 3t of cargo space or that have the odd half ton tacked on.

Right now I am liking a Kestrel modification because it is armed and costs just a bit more than the other VTOL I was looking at for SAR and has the fluff bonuses.  Also, since it is ICE I figured it would be cheaper than the other option.  The cargo bay is also large enough to hold plenty of rescued personnel and a SAR troop section.  Craft comes to 792,306 c-bills.

The other option is the Sprint with its fusion engine.  It is unarmed, has only a ton cargo bay, but is slightly faster than the Kestrel.  The armor is comparable between the two VTOLs.  The Sprint is also easier to acquire than a Kestrel.

One modification I made to both designs was to put ECM on each bird . . . I figure that increases survivability.  Might also drive the cost of the Kestrel up if I removed one MG to put in a BAP, though it would lower the cargo to the Sprint's level to do so.

As for the SAR team on board . . .

I figure a medic, some sort of engineer/firefighter trained type so he can open up cockpits if needed to get pilots out, and two gun bunnies.

[Moonsword]

My picks for SAR are a lance of Ferrets or, if I can get them, Rippers - simple, cheap, and capable of doing the job without tying up my heavy transports scooping up MechWarriors instead of moving infantry or supplies.  They're also capable of doing several other jobs.  Kestrels rate around the same and have a medevac variant you may want to look at.  A Sprint can't deal with opponents, even to the extent of a Ripper firing on a few guys with rifles to run them off, meaning that unless you're the Forestry Service, you probably want something else.  If you're talking about hostile penetration against more than a few guys with rifles, quit messing around with single-unit solutions and bring some attack choppers in to clear the area.  If you need more infantry, attach a Karnov or a standard Kestrel to move some infantry in.

That last part is why the Word and ComStar have the best CSAR options.  Pintos can go in, run some tanks off, and then actually grab the pilots.

[Hellraiser]

Ferret Ferret Ferret

Karnov Karnov Karnov

kk, done now.

[Dave Talley]

yep ferrets and  a quick tracked vehicle for extractions in places a vtol cant get to easily, of course hovers are great depending on terrain

[truetanker]

http://www.sarna.net/wiki/Soar

I like a pair of them with my units.

TT

[Cannon_Fodder]

V/STOL Fixed-Wings have the best speed. Even the fastest VTOLs can barely out speed a modern Cessna, neither then most modern helicopters. The V/STOL Fixed-Wing can still hover plus take off/land in a single hex plus get fighter-jet speeds to move injured personnel to treatment.

[Moonsword]

V/STOL Fixed-Wings have the best speed. Even the fastest VTOLs can barely out speed a modern Cessna, neither then most modern helicopters. The V/STOL Fixed-Wing can still hover plus take off/land in a single hex plus get fighter-jet speeds to move injured personnel to treatment.

I touched on that in my first post but there's a dearth of official VSTOL conventional fighters with cargo space or fixed-wing support vehicles and both of the designs aren't really suitable to the job.  The Planetlifter and King Karnov are both very large and jet-propelled.  I don't know about you but spraying the jet wash of a 50 or 200 ton aircraft onto the area near a SAR pickup really doesn't sound like a good idea.  You also have the problem that King Karnovs are not terribly easy to get onto a planet as anything but cargo. This is all solvable with custom designs but not everyone uses those.

Keep in mind that unlike VTOLs, aerospace units (even those equipped with VSTOL gear) have to make PSRs for landing under game conditions.  That raises the question of whether this is something that isn't going to lead to an unacceptable number of times you have to send a second rescue unit out to pick up even more people.

[truetanker]

The SOAR is a VTOL that goes 8/12 has cargo for 4 patients or 6 people, fuel celled and Eviro sealed with a micro winch so I don't need to land. It's got range and movement so I can nape all I want.

TT

[maxcarrion]

It’s horses for courses and really depends on the mission.  My custom homebrew unit had an enormous number of units that were battlefield units that could also SAR

Ground force support – Tanks and IFVs are each equipped with half ton emergency bays with a paramedic and a couple of stretchers.  A rescue is as close as the closest friendly vehicle

Air cavalry units – Mid range high speed missions are taken care of by the air cav.  The standard 6 VTOL unit can take a plethora of missions – 2 PPC armed tank busters, 2 Arrow armed artillery support and 2 armed slicks carrying a BA squad can generally secure a small landing zone and extract a pilot or unit.

Rapid Deployment units – For the longer range missions (longer than “battlefield”) I use an armed VTOL aerodyne shuttle with a 70 ton cargo bay.  In the bay sit 2x35ton IFVs (usually tracked) each holding a BA squad.  These can put down quickly on a landing field or road near the target area, quickly deploy, seize the objective and exfiltrate before much of anything can respond.   

Mechs – Almost every mech I used had jump jets and hands, if you’re rescuing a small number of men then just hot drop in a few mechs and they can pick up the targets and run for it.