Re: Strange Idea FT2

Aaron Davis aka therubydragon wrote:
>... For troop transports
>instead of using Landing craft why don't you just land the whole ship
>on the planet. Instant base, and a lot of extra mass for the troops! I
>would just hate to try to attack a mass 500 fully streamlined thrust 8
>troop transport with 50 mass of MILITARY weapons and 200 mass for
>troops. Mind you it would be EXPENSIVE but hey it would be different!

Yes, it would be great against opponents with no space navy and only
land
forces. You have to be sure that your opponent's space forces are
completely
neutralised or eliminated. Any system defence boats (SDBs) that are
present
are going to completely destroy your transport and it's contents in a
few
short turns. A SDB will be more heavily armed and armoured than your
transport and cheaper.
    Landing could be a problem, provided, of course, you found an
adequately
strong area to support the MASS 500 starship. This is a starship the
size of
small skyscraper! Look how long it takes to make the foundation of a
skyscraper!
    Anti-gravity support could help to spread the weight across a larger
area, it would depend on how your game's antigrav tech works. If not
available, you could have a very wide, very long, very low ship
structure to
ease the ground pressure, much like a book, plate or classic UFO.
    And, of course, if I were the defenders, I would be lobbing in
Nuclear
artillery shells, or Nuke tipped GMS/cruise missiles. I sure I could
afford
a dozen or two against a transport with this many troops on board. One
nuke
kills everything in a 2" radius on the Dirtside II table. So that's a
REALLY
LARGE hole in your transport!
    The point of having landing craft is that if you lose one landing
craft,
you still have plenty left. If you lose your streamlined starship,
you've
lost all that it was carrying at once!
    Also, by having the star transports remain in space, they are in
range
of the protection of your space navy, and so can be defended against the
attacks of enemy SDBs and starcraft.

Andrew Martin
Shared email: Al.Bri@xtra.co.nz
Web Site: http://members.xoom.com/AndrewMartin
Dirtside II Web Site: http://members.xoom.com/AndrewMartin/DSII
Dirtside II FAQ Web Site: http://members.xoom.com/AndrewMartin/DSII/FAQ