"Customized" DropShips

[Go For The Throat]

So, I have recently run into a couple of problems involving finding DropShips to transport a couple of different units (one for a current game, another for an upcoming one). As a result of my inability to find canon DropShips appropriately configured to carry the forces in question, I was wondering how common layout's outside of those listed in TROs would be? Especially as one of the units in question is a Reinforced Combined-Arms Company of Mercenaries that does not own their own DropShip, and must rely on their employer to provide it.

[Lorcan Nagle]

I'd say a significant number of civilian and merc DropShips are customised to some degree, but the odds of one being perfectly suited to your unit's needs and being available in the system you're transiting from would be slim.  It's worth noting that unless you're going to be performing a raid or asault there's little need to transport your unit in a military transport.  Mechs and vehicles can be carried as cargo if there's no rush to unload them at the destination.

[pheonixstorm]

The Seeker is one of the few dropships that can be easily reconfigured. Another I think is the Aurora it is within your timeframe.

[Cache]

Especially as one of the units in question is a Reinforced Combined-Arms Company of Mercenaries that does not own their own DropShip, and must rely on their employer to provide it.

It sounds like the employer would be furnishing multiple, smaller dropships.

[Colt Ward]

As Lorcan said, if you are not dropping hot then you can unload as cargo . . . or if you do not need your whole unit to drop hot (kind of hard with vehicles . . . but anything is airdrop-able once) then you can split between two that will deposit your mechs, BA or infantry into a LZ and let a cargo ship unload everyone else.

[Colodie]

Another option is to make your own DropShip.  I believe that the backstory of TRO:3057 is that it only highlights the most common DropShips.  So, presuming you have what would be considered a relatively common organization scheme, you could just say your using a less common, but still acquirable DropShip.

For example, I don't think there are any canon DropShips that just hold a battalion of vehicles.  There are some that hold that, plus 'Mechs, and infantry, and whatnot.  But no dedicated vehicle ones (If there are, replace battalion with company or regiment).  Same with infantry.  But just because there aren't any described doesn't mean you can't say they exist.

[Colt Ward]

Honestly, there are not many vehicle carriers because you use mechs, infantry and BA to secure a DZ.  Supposedly there are variants of the typical mech carriers- Leopards, Unions and Overlords- that are fit for mechs, etc.  We do have some infantry carriers from the SL-era IIRC, as well as some mechanized infantry carriers (light vehs & infantry) but not too many choices.  They also introduced the ancestors in the Lion, Confederate, Black Eagle, Dictator and others . . . which can be found off the beaten path.

[Lorcan Nagle]

As Lorcan said, if you are not dropping hot then you can unload as cargo . . . or if you do not need your whole unit to drop hot (kind of hard with vehicles . . . but anything is airdrop-able once) then you can split between two that will deposit your mechs, BA or infantry into a LZ and let a cargo ship unload everyone else.

As a quick technicality, the reason for vehicle bays isn't hot drops (though you can drop them from upper atmosphere using dropchutes), but so you can roll them right out of a DropShip and into combat, 2 per turn per bay door.

Units carried in cargo take much longer to unload.

[beachhead1985]

If you think about it; modified DS should really be the rule for a lot of outfits; especially mercs and the ComGaurd and WOBM.

How hard is it? Geeze i'm divided on that. It's a *lot* of work, but harder to add mech and fighter bays than anything else and likely easiest to add light vehicle bays. Infantry, remember need a certain about of physical space that should make that more difficult.

[Colt Ward]

You can also play with it and say you have a quirk . . . 'No Dropchute for 2nd deck mech cubicles' or something where you add them.  It means you cannot do orbital drops but they COULD walk off the deck out the hatch like we have heard of before . . .

[Mohammed As`Zaman Bey]

 Customization is limited by time and how much you are willing to spend. One of my players takes Mule DSs and puts over 1,000 points of armor per location and still has plenty of room for units and artillery batteries... His Mules could probably take on warships, if I let them...

[Highball]

I think the ship you are looking to use is the Triumph. This ship is described as being converted to carry every possible unit type out there and is described as the most common dropship out there. I can imagine a Triumph would be a units first dropship as it is the most versatile.

[beachhead1985]

I assume at the faction-level dropship assignment can have a rhyme and reason, but if you're doing the roll-a-merc-unit thing, then the ship you get or have a shot at getting is more or less random.

Say you have three mechs; two fighters a tank and two infantry platoons. But you roll up a leopard. It's what you get. For the cost of nothing your infantry can be really uncomfortable ( and everyone else given the design limits of the air circ system. For more time in the shop and money you can get proper bays and an upgraded life support system. for more you could add on some extra life pods/boats.

[Colt Ward]

You CAN attempt to pick up a specific model . . . its just a lot harder, and I sort of think a waste of time/asset.

With that said, I applied all the factors and lucked into a obsolete Fortress- instant artillery!

[Chaeronea]

With all the talk about DropShips, can DropShips have small craft bays as part of their design? Or are small craft bays restricted to JumpShips and WarShips?

[Archangel]

With all the talk about DropShips, can DropShips have small craft bays as part of their design? Or are small craft bays restricted to JumpShips and WarShips?

Yes, there are several DropShip designs that have small craft bays including the Kuan Ti, Achilles, Vengeance, Octopus, Rose, Nekohono'o, Conquistador, Mammoth and Behemoth.

[mdauben]

Honestly, there are not many vehicle carriers because you use mechs, infantry and BA to secure a DZ.  Supposedly there are variants of the typical mech carriers- Leopards, Unions and Overlords- that are fit for mechs, etc.  We do have some infantry carriers from the SL-era IIRC, as well as some mechanized infantry carriers (light vehs & infantry) but not too many choices.  They also introduced the ancestors in the Lion, Confederate, Black Eagle, Dictator and others . . . which can be found off the beaten path.

I have a combined arms Merc battalion that I used the following to carry:

• Mech Company (+2 ASF) - Union Class
• Foot Inf. Company - Union Combined-Arms Class
• Armor Company (+2 ASF) - Union Cargo Hauler

Obviously, the Cargo Hauler isn't suitable for combat drops but I figured the Mechs and Infantry would handle that.  Plus, I could not find a dedicated IS company sized armored vehicle hauler for the 3050 time period. 

[Col Toda]

I had the same problem until I started to own my Drop Ships as opposed to using someone elses .  First I had a modified Excaliber but had an aerospace problem so I could not go into a hot zone .  Then I modifed an Overlord and changed one bay ; so it had 24 mechs a platoon of battle armor 20 light vehicles 1 heavy vehicle and Cargo and kept the 6 Aerospace fighters . I changed the armor to Ferro- Aluminum so it had a Threashold of at least 20 in every location . I kept the weapon suite for the new version Overlord to be the same so from casual looking it looked stock . I did alter a Fortress once but as Overlords were much more availbale I chose to give the Fortress to the Trainning Cadre for easy contracts ; it too had an lack of Aerospace fighter problem . If you change your drop ship and fighter armor to ferro aluminum you can increase the threashold for crit number. This means that your aerospace assets cost a very much to repair but increases your chances of landing and leaving .

[Archangel]

Plus, I could not find a dedicated IS company sized armored vehicle hauler for the 3050 time period.

 ???  The obsolete version of Gazelle Class DropShip has 15 heavy vehicle bays (and is one of the easiest DropShips to obtain).  While the upgraded version of the Gazelle wasn't available until 3055, it has 12 heavy and 3 light vehicle bays.  The Hannibal, which also wasn't available until 3055, has 12 heavy vehicle bays and is also capable of carrying 4 platoons of infantry.

[Go For The Throat]

While I did not think of just carrying them as cargo, that will work for now. The Mercs are currently on a Garrison (training) mission to earn some cash, but I will have to think of something for the future. They are supposed to be a raiding/striker force consisting of five 'Mechs, three ASFs, six Vehicles (all light), two Battle Armor Squads, four Conventional Infantry Squads, and two Support Vehicles (one heavy, one light). So it looks like a Seeker is my best bet with that, assuming of course that they do not get any bigger.

The other unit I have, for the upcoming campaign, is a Blakist Level III. My thoughts immediately went to the Assault Triumph to maintain faction purity, but the load-out made no sense. The reason I say that is because after looking at Blake Documents, of the 52 Divisions in the book, only 28 have listed compositions. Assuming they still use the composition table from pg. 9 of the ComStar:FM, a full 17 of those Level IVs do not even have enough Vehicles in their TO&E to completely fill the vehicle bay of this Level III transport. Why would such an offensively natured faction create such an offensively natured DS, that seemingly only carries defensive formations?

[beachhead1985]

While I did not think of just carrying them as cargo, that will work for now. The Mercs are currently on a Garrison (training) mission to earn some cash, but I will have to think of something for the future. They are supposed to be a raiding/striker force consisting of five 'Mechs, three ASFs, six Vehicles (all light), two Battle Armor Squads, four Conventional Infantry Squads, and two Support Vehicles (one heavy, one light). So it looks like a Seeker is my best bet with that, assuming of course that they do not get any bigger.

The other unit I have, for the upcoming campaign, is a Blakist Level III. My thoughts immediately went to the Assault Triumph to maintain faction purity, but the load-out made no sense. The reason I say that is because after looking at Blake Documents, of the 52 Divisions in the book, only 28 have listed compositions. Assuming they still use the composition table from pg. 9 of the ComStar:FM, a full 17 of those Level IVs do not even have enough Vehicles in their TO&E to completely fill the vehicle bay of this Level III transport. Why would such an offensively natured faction create such an offensively natured DS, that seemingly only carries defensive formations?

Not sure I follow? You can still attack people with vehicles. But yes; the WOBM does look like a self-inflicted headache factory as far as DS go.

[Colt Ward]

Its firepower/flexibility per trooper . . . mechs, BA and ASF all have a higher ratio than vehicles.  Its about raw numbers of bodies that you have available.  Mechs vs Vehs & BA vs Inf . . . WoB is supposed to field more of the former because of what they bring over the latter.

[Istal_Devalis]

Personally, I'm waiting for someone to make a heavier version of the Aurora. Modular bays are a pretty big strategic advantage, even if that's just an informed ability.

[mdauben]

???  The obsolete version of Gazelle Class DropShip has 15 heavy vehicle bays (and is one of the easiest DropShips to obtain).  While the upgraded version of the Gazelle wasn't available until 3055, it has 12 heavy and 3 light vehicle bays.  The Hannibal, which also wasn't available until 3055, has 12 heavy vehicle bays and is also capable of carrying 4 platoons of infantry.

Dang!  Not sure how I missed that one.  I'll have to pull my old copy of TRO:3057 out when I get home tonight and take a look at the write up. 

Thanks!   :)

[Go For The Throat]

Not sure I follow? You can still attack people with vehicles. But yes; the WOBM does look like a self-inflicted headache factory as far as DS go.

Vehicles can most definitely be used in an attack, but when Blake Documents says on pg.88 that its Protectorate Militia are "defensive", "planet-bound", "light on 'Mechs", and "are in ample supply of more conventional forces". It leads me to believe that WoB Militia, and especially Shadow Divisions are more 'Mech heavy, therefore making the Assault Triumphs six 'Mech, but 24 Vehicle Bays seem like they should be switched.

I will make due in the mean time, but is just seems to me that there should be more options available for DropShips. Whether this comes in the form of more designs, or more flexibility with the current ones does not matter to me.

[beachhead1985]

Actually, I'd go so far as to make it harder when role-playing mods, as in mechs and tanks and such, to modify smaller drop ships and easier to work on bigger ones, just because there is more *space* to work with. The example above of the Modified Mules is perfect!

[Col Toda]

The only Drop Ship that is Stock and ,Carries everything is the Conquistador  . Way too much . The three Aerospace Fighters rules out a modified Union . So the next drop ship up is the Union C and modie the bay space . For my unit I chose the Overlord drop ship new version as I had to do the least to it : kept bays 1 and 3 the same altered bay 2 for what I needed and replaced the armor with Frrro Aluminum  to increase the critical threshold to st least 20 . I ruled.out the Conquistador because it too hard to get ,  Put too many units in one drop ship , was not a Spheriod so it required more landing and tske of  space .  The best choice I think is a Modified Overlord and grow into it .

[Go For The Throat]

Actually, I'd go so far as to make it harder when role-playing mods, as in mechs and tanks and such, to modify smaller drop ships and easier to work on bigger ones, just because there is more *space* to work with. The example above of the Modified Mules is perfect!

I would think that smaller ships would be easier to modify because there is less equipment to work around. Especially when you look at the two that are fluffed as being easy to change the Aurora, and Seeker. Whatever works for your game though.

Personally, I'm waiting for someone to make a heavier version of the Aurora. Modular bays are a pretty big strategic advantage, even if that's just an informed ability.

Seconded, as long as it is faster.

The only Drop Ship that is Stock and ,Carries everything is the Conquistador  . Way too much . The three Aerospace Fighters rules out a modified Union . So the next drop ship up is the Union C and modie the bay space . For my unit I chose the Overlord drop ship new version as I had to do the least to it : kept bays 1 and 3 the same altered bay 2 for what I needed and replaced the armor with Frrro Aluminum  to increase the critical threshold to st least 20 . I ruled.out the Conquistador because it too hard to get ,  Put too many units in one drop ship , was not a Spheriod so it required more landing and tske of  space .  The best choice I think is a Modified Overlord and grow into it .

Yeah, after looking at it, it is a bit much, but the Conquistador's layout is exactly what I am looking for, I just wish there was a smaller version. I do not think a Union is out of the question. If I am already in the process of modifying it, what is to keep me from just adding another Aero bay? I also prefer Spheroid DropShips for that very reason, but I am not opposed to using an Aerodyne one if it is a better fit. My only hesitancy against using an Overlord is cost of operation. While it could be grown into, and provide some nice advantages in the interim, I think it is just a bit to much ship for a reinforced Company. Once the unit is able to expand beyond its current size, I think it would be a perfect fit. 

[Istal_Devalis]

Again, keep in mind that in something like 99% of the time, this stuff is all transferred as cargo. You only need dedicated bays if you intend to go in hot. Like, 'will be opening fire as soon as we touch down' hot.

[beachhead1985]

Again, keep in mind that in something like 99% of the time, this stuff is all transferred as cargo. You only need dedicated bays if you intend to go in hot. Like, 'will be opening fire as soon as we touch down' hot.

But you need to be able to do that, yes?