Force building challenge: Support the support

[Gorgon]

Yesterday I discovered that the humble Vulture (dropship) is still in use by Periphery and Merc forces during the IlClan era. To commemorate 750 (!) years of active use, I decided to offer this force building challenge to you:

Say you're outfitting a small Merc or (deep) Periphery force. You have a lance of Mechs riding in a Leopard and a Vulture carrying a 12 light tanks and 6 infantry platoons. What else do you carry in the 1000 tons of cargo space aboard the Vulture?The Rules:

• Pick an era of your choice. This thing has been flying since the Age of War, so there's plenty of time to choose from.
• You have 1000 tons of cargo space. How much of it will you devote to food, spare parts, ammunition?
• What else do you bring along to support your forces in the field? Anything that can be transported as cargo is fair game - satellites, support vehicles (of any kind), additional personnel, what ever seems most useful.
• Existing bays may not be modified. So no exchanging your basic infantry bays for BA bays. But additional gear like battle armor, field guns or the vehicles to equip mechanized infantry may be carried as cargo. Just note the difference in weight between a foot platoon and the type of infantry you want to field.
• Same goes for additional combat vehicles / mechs / fighters. You can carry them as cargo, but they would not be ready for combat deployment right out the gate.
• Don't sweat the tanks and mechs. If you want to fill out what combat units the main force employs, go ahead, but we're more interested in the things that can't be deployed battle-ready from the vehicle bays.

Have fun building!

[Wolf72]

I'd start with account-tech and figure out your mission length and return trip then figure out how much consumables you need.  Unless those vehicle crew/techs and infantry (going to up it to 30 for easier math) are in steerage you will need considerable supplies. 

so 30*6 = 180; 12*5= 60; total of 240 persons.  In bays their rates are 1/20.   240/20 = 12t per day ... at 60 days that's 720 tons!  [I hope my math is right].  Going into steerage doesn't help, 240*5=1,200 towards quarters.

I'm guessing these ships are better for relatively fast & close drops.

[Daryk]

To be a little clearer, StratOps (AAR), page 146 says:

On spacecraft, 1 ton of food and water covers the needs of 200 people for 1 day if they are assigned to quarters. Bay personnel (including infantry bay personnel) who do not receive separate quarters have simpler life support and facilities, and thus use 1 ton of consumables (food, water, air, and so on) per 20 people for 1 day. Personnel transported in cargo bays use 1 ton of consumables per 5 people per day.

So your math is right excluding the consumable requirements of the crew.  You could also claw some back if your Light Vehicles have less than four crew each (i.e., they're 45 tons or less), and more by using less than 30 personnel per platoon.  That said, planning for the worst case is usually best.  As long as you're raiding a planet that has a breathable atmosphere and water freely available, replenishing most of the consumables won't be a problem.  Food is still a consideration, of course, but I think you could get away with 500 tons of consumables for a round number.

For my other 500 tons, I'd spend 90 tons on 6 Thumpers in Field Artillery configuration, 100 tons of various ammo types (to include the Thumpers), and 310 tons on Armor and other spare parts.  At least for an initial swag without knowing what the actual force consists of (ASFs, e.g.?).

[Hammerhead]

I always want a Paramour or Engineering Vehicle of some kind to haul Ammo for reloading in the field.

Other than that, mostly consumables; Ammo, Armor plate, some replacement weapons used commonly across multiple units (Medium Lasers, etc).

Prolly a Long Tom and MASH truck.

Then food and stuff.  ;D

[Gorgon]

I'd start with account-tech and figure out your mission length and return trip then figure out how much consumables you need.  Unless those vehicle crew/techs and infantry (going to up it to 30 for easier math) are in steerage you will need considerable supplies. 

so 30*6 = 180; 12*5= 60; total of 240 persons.  In bays their rates are 1/20.   240/20 = 12t per day ... at 60 days that's 720 tons!  [I hope my math is right].  Going into steerage doesn't help, 240*5=1,200 towards quarters.

I'm guessing these ships are better for relatively fast & close drops.

You are of course correct in pointing out that quite a bit of storage space is going towards food, water and air, but funnily enough, the Vulture offers one of the better cargo to units ratio. A seeker or Condor, despite carrying a lot more personnel, will have to make due with ~500 tons. Something like a Hercules or Excalibur may carry up to 1300 tons, but they have to feed twice the number of infantry and quite a few more tankers. So yeah, its wise to back food to spare, but BT droppers in general are fairly short-legged.

[Daryk]

Taking a stab at the vehicles (with the assumption these are drop zone/fire base security assets):
4 Goblin variants (2 LRM, 2 SRM) [12 crew total, plus 4 techs]

1 Karnov [2 crew, 1 tech]
1 Ferret [1 crew, 1 tech]
2 Warriors (OG 3026 version) [4 crew total, plus 2 techs]

2 Heavy APCs [4 crew total, plus 2 techs]
BMRV [4 crew, 1 tech]
Hetzer [3 crew, 1 tech]

[Wolf72]

so, how long is it from jumpship to planet ... on a "good day"?

[Daryk]

That completely depends on the star system, but it generally takes a week to recharge a jump drive, so at least three days is a good estimate.

[Wolf72]

That completely depends on the star system, but it generally takes a week to recharge a jump drive, so at least three days is a good estimate.

Well, biscuits ... skimp on the consumables by all means! ... sure maybe plan for 15 days? so that crew of 240 (bay personnel only, not crew and totally overestimating to cover different vehicle means ... and 30 is a better number than 28 for PBI !!!) ... 240/20 * 15 = 180t.  Would also have any available bodies resupplying anything they can once they're grounded.

[Daryk]

15 days isn't a bad estimate!  :thumbsup:

[JolieKeva]

Estimating 15 days isn't too shabby!

[EPG]

I'd start with account-tech and figure out your mission length and return trip then figure out how much consumables you need.  Unless those vehicle crew/techs and infantry (going to up it to 30 for easier math) are in steerage you will need considerable supplies. 

so 30*6 = 180; 12*5= 60; total of 240 persons.  In bays their rates are 1/20.   240/20 = 12t per day ... at 60 days that's 720 tons!  [I hope my math is right].  Going into steerage doesn't help, 240*5=1,200 towards quarters.

I'm guessing these ships are better for relatively fast & close drops.

Account tech comes first - keep everyone alive, and less unhappy and ready to fight.  Artillery is a good choice, but this force is screaming for recon capability. It needs some aerospace fighters. A pair of mediums for general purpose duty, and a pair of lights for dedicated scouting and recon.  The battle force is pretty capable but they need the sort of situational awareness that you can’t get fast from orbit.  That and aerospace support can be literally anywhere on the planet in just a few hours.  It would be a major force multiplier for a unit headed out into unfamiliar territories like this.