On defenses/countermeasures on a drop pod assault, have thought about this a bit.
One is the inclusion of defensive and weapon pods mixed in with the assault. Some are dedicated EW systems to provide wide area electronic combat support on descent. Others are carrying ordinance they can launch at threats as they emerge during the drop. And some would carry supporting drone vehicles to provide various support functions for the troops when they hit the ground. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: "Mike Adams" <[email protected]> To: [email protected], [email protected] Sent: Friday, January 17, 2014 11:55:53 AM Subject: Re: [gurps] Marine Detachment Re: Battlesuit TO&E Zan replied to me: > For an assault landing are dropships the way to go? Heinlein's mobile > infantry dropped in reentry pods along with plenty of ECM and false > targets. A question of tech levels, too. Two factors here: * Heinlein's description of capsules and their countermeasures was very 1950s-era. Active radar and chaff. Will those false targets work against TL9+ sensors with computerized processors? * Up to TL9 or early TL10, dropships depend on something like fusion rockets. Even worse than aerobraking pods. From TL11 or even late TL10, reactionless thrusters change the picture if they're available. > Then for each hit instead of losing a whole dropship, only a single > trooper is lost. > > On the other hand, depending on technology, the dropship might be a > much tougher target with improved stealth, armor and force screens. And point defense, and improved speed. The dropship can also turn into a gunship once the troops are dropped, and a recovery ship afterwards. A dropship can also be launched further out. Of course a high-TL drop capsule could use advanced tech, thrusters and stealth and all that. It would be roughly a single use (cheaply made?), single suit dropship. Last but not least, my TL12 suit has contragrav and thrusters to drop or launch without a capsule. I just didn't see that as smart against serious defenses. Regards, Onno _______________________________________________ GurpsNet-L mailing list <[email protected]> http://mail.sjgames.com/mailman/listinfo/gurpsnet-l _______________________________________________ GurpsNet-L mailing list <[email protected]> http://mail.sjgames.com/mailman/listinfo/gurpsnet-l
