5 replies to this topic

[King Caesar]

I am a old Battletech player from the old 2nd edition box set days, where the mechs were little fold up card stock. I look back on some of my Tech Readouts and other reference material and for the life of me I cannot remember if there was a definative picture of a Dropship's bridge.

I know its rather silly but its to satisfy my curiousity. I kind of envisige a Space Shuttle meets Battlestar Galactica kind of layout. I see a pilot and co-pilot position much like a Space Shuttle then behind that a data table ringed with information officers strapped into flight seats and at the head is the Dropship's captain overseeing every little nuance of the operation.

What do you think? Am I way off?

[Thorn Hallis]

The Explorer Corps Sourcebook might be the right place to look. It features a cut of an Overlord Dropship with explanations for the various sections.

[Pariah Devalis]

Spoiler

If you can find the cockpit... I'd imagine an Aerodyne would be like what you said, but a spherical design layout is probably completely different.

[Strum Wealh]

Quote

In the BattleTech universe a DropShip is defined as any spaceship massing between 200 and 100,000 tons that is itself incapable of faster-than-light (FTL) travel. They essentially conduct all other aspects of space travel, including transit between planets and Jump Points and planetary landings (hence their name). For FTL interstellar movement, they dock with JumpShips by means of a Docking collar.

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Even though many DropShips serve as military spaceships, naval terms such as "Corvette", "Destroyer", "Cruiser" etc. are never applied to them; these are exclusively used for true WarShips, i.e. the huge Combat JumpShips that outclass DropShips by an order of magnitude (typically massing several hundred thousands or even millions of tons).

DropShips most commonly serve the same function in BT as landing craft do in real-world navies, though they do have other uses - cargo haulers, passenger liners, light carriers for AeroSpace Fighters and other small craft, and so on.

They come in two basic varieties: "spheroid" (such as the spherical Union-class or the egg-shaped Overlord-class) and "areodyne" (a more "space-plane"-like variety, such as the Leopard-class or the Avenger-class)

Interior of a Union-class DropShip:

All DropShips will have the more-or-less similar sectioning, with the actual layout/location of the sections varying as a result of the individual ship's geometry.

[Morashtak]

Aerodyne would have a similar layout to what you are thinking of. Can see where a Spheroid wouldn't be restricted to being in the nose; Think of large coastal and ocean going ships; Depending on it's role the bridge could be in the bow, midsection or the stern. No flying bridge as we see on cruise ships unless it's retractable.

Liking your idea of the general layout as it makes sense when one factors in the 1-g acceleration rate for movement; Accelerate at constant 1-g until "x" away (approximately at the half-way point, generally) from the planet then turn nose to tail and decelerate at a constant 1-g for orbital insertion or atmospheric entry. Reverse this for the return trip to the Jumpship.

Edited by Morashtak, 10 March 2012 - 09:09 AM.

[King Caesar]

Thank you all for the very kind and informative replies. Hopefully it will help others who are new to our little universe visiualize what is carrying their BattleMechs into combat.

Here's to you humble dropship and your brave crews for delivering my 80 ton mud stomper into combat planetside!

See you guys and gals down in the dirt, King Caesar -out.