We all know by now that the standard versions of what a RT can get are not the Astartes models. I would say that Astartes Drop Pods lack some of the safety features that other drop pods would use because Astartes have less need of such features and because of the need to pack in as many power-armoured bodies as possible. When you're dealing with much smaller/lighter humans, you can probably put a grav plate in there to compensate, and these are likely little more than up-armoured versions of life pods that are programmed to have a more rapid insertion (and to be reusable).

As for Storm Troopers being the only ones that can use them, I find that rediculous. Any limitation of that nature would have been listed in the write-up for the Component. What's next? Only troops in Terminator Armour can use the Teleportarium?

No question that normal humans can use drop pods - if fitted with 'caccoons' as mentioned in Into the Storm. Grav tech is possible, but caccoons suggests liquid immersion to me. This low tech solution might be good for 30g or more. If you incorporated liquid breathing then 100g+ might be possible.

I had to look at Drop Pod entry (as opposed to the Component) to see where these cocoons were mentioned. I'm not sure how expensive they would be, but the Availability must be lower than Power Armour or else we'd just see more power-armoured infantry. I also wonder if the cocoons are reusable as you suggest, or if they are one-use expendibles that the troops tear their way out of after landing.

Fresnel said:

I did not check into the storm to see if there is a mention of, but I'd think that reg folks in cocoons would take longer to deploy than Space Marines without cocoons. Leaving the cocoons would take time I would think..

DigitalRedneck said:

Not if they're one-use tear-away deals or something that springs with explosive bolts the moment the pod doors open.

I would say:

Poor quality: simple liquid immersion tanks. Manual release. 2 rounds to exit

Common quality: liquid immersion. Automatic release. 1 round to exit.

Good quality: Gravitic inertial compensator. Immediate exit

And these caccoon ideas are sound, but i stand by my original point that regular humans standing or sitting in a drop pod with a restraint harness just like in Astartes drop pods would be absolutely squished on impact… hence my suggestion that the Storm Trooper regiment should be the ones that use the Drop Pods as they were published at the same time and we know that they are the peak of human military training, equipment and deployment techniques.

Without a pressure suit the g-force you could expose a standing human to in would be very limited. 3g at the outside. Perhaps a drop pod could be programmed for such a 'gentle' decent, but it would compromise its anti-AA ability. Plus the poor sods would be subject to 3g for minutes… Forget fighting after landing.

Even in cocoons you should be stacking them horizontal - bunk bed style.

However, if you limit the landing burn to 10 seconds, I cannot see how even Astartes could survive standing up, power armour or not… Imo Astartes drop pods must have Gravitic plates to counter the acceleration in addition to the power armour and gene-tech.

Fresnel said:

I would say that the grav plates would be the simplest answer in all cases. I haven't seen anything in 40k that suggests that the Imperium uses liquid immersion to counter acceleration, but we do know that they have artificial gravity and that it's used to counter the dramatic accelerations of their starships, so I'm inclined to believe that a grav plate in the floor along with a cocoon harness (not a liquid immersion apparatus - something more like a crash cage in a race car) would be most fitting for the setting.

I am inclined the agree. The idea of storm troopers emerging for a pod dripping isn't too cool. Although for me the term cocoon conjures an image of a form-fitted full-body container.

The grave plates might handle the base acceleration, but you are still left with the viberation loads - which can also kill. The cocoons could act to damp out the viberations.

The 'cocoon' doesn't have to be an individual, or even optional feature as you all seem to be supposing it is, too.

I'm saying, it could actually be a part of the pod, fully integrated, as in a drop-pod designed specifically with regular humans in mind, hence it incorporates all the extra safety measures needed. Must we always assume that things printed in the codices are the ONLY examples of those machines in existence? When we all play the RPG, that takes the much more sensible angle that there are different makes and models of almost everything (best case example being weapons, there's not just 1 Lasgun that is the same for everyone everywhere).

And yeah, if you really want planetary assault as an option, probably going to want Bombardment Cannons. The little electrical blackout you have planned might be alright for normal targets, or even military units on the ground, but you've left out one key ingredient. Orbital Defences. Facilities that are hardened against attack from space, just because of their inherent job, and effectively small fortresses from the ground. It would take more than one ungraceful random bombardment of a city to take one of those out, as they come with their own power generators so as not to rely on the city grid. And while you're shutting off power for the central Hive, they could be punching holes in your hull with return fire.

So the most recent Codex talks about how it would be impossible for normal humans to use the Astartes style drop pods, for a huge number of reasons…

The Storm variant is different from the Astartes standard. How different?

p182 of Into the Storm, states they are 'modified' for use by normal humans. This suggests that they begin as Astartes pattern - but are modified - rather than a wholely different design. The 10 passengers must be suited in Power Armour or cocoons.

This is support by the fact that the Drop Pod stats are essentialy cut&pasted from 'Rites of Battle' p171. The only change is Cruising speed down to 2,400 kph from 12,000 kph. So they are slower.

So my overall impresssion is that Storm Drop Pods are simply modified Astartes Pods - de-rate for speed to suit the human passengers.

Fresnel said:

Good find on those stats! That's the sort of digging we need more of on these forums to bring debates to a sound conclusion. So suffice to say that Rogue Traders dont fit Astartes style drop pods to their ships, and thus don't get to deploy their troops quite so quickly.

That said, 2,400 kph is still pretty fast compared to bulk haulers, cargo landers and shuttles so i can see them still being preferable for inserting small, elite forces to lead planetary assaults.

I think ideally you'll be wanting a light cruiser or cruiser for a planetary assault, outfitted with the following:
Bombardment cannon

Launch Bays

Teleportarium

Drop pod bays

Auger/bridge with bonuses to planetary assaults, bombardment or strikecraft.

Cargo bays

Barracks

Maybe a lance for those precision strikes.

Let's say your ship is in low orbit (call that 200km).

2400 kph is 0.66 km/s.

Lets say that power armour and cocoons allow a human to withstand 10g while standing (with gravity plates helping). Then we have a 6.6 sec landing burn.

This gets you boots on the ground in under 6 minutes. Not the 80 seconds that Astartes manage, but not too bad.

Blood Pact said:

Disruption Cannons can take out the power systems of starships. This is hardly a 'little electrical blackout' but more like a projected wide-area power dampening. Starships are usually far better shielded from such things than most planet-based structures. Sure, some structures may be buried in the ground or otherwise protected, but those are generally not the ones firing into space (if it can hit a ship, the ship can hit it too).

Of course, the ultimate answer is just to (not) use the Nova Cannon. Just let them know that if they fire on your ship, you'll drop a few Nova Cannon rounds on them. Blast radius of 10,000km will trash almost anything on a planet.

Also, I dont think the OP is looking for the ideal planetary assault ship. Likely he has come across the hull by some means and has decided to out fit it for such. Hull choice is not likely to change no matter what would be better, so lets move from thier. I like the idea of disruption cannons leaving a battlefield full of salvage, especially for a RT more concerned with profit than combat efficiency.

HappyDaze said:

It's a bad assumption to talk like orbital defence silos wouldn't be one of the planet-based structures to be heavily shielded against such an attack. These things are supposed to withstand macro-cannon shells and lance strikes going off next to them (or on top of them in some cases). Furthermore, a starship is one integral structure. Every inch of it is wired up to everything else, so a strike on the aft quarters with your ion cannon (which is isn't, btw, it's not some sort of instant off-switch, despite attempts to portray it as such), of course it's going to have an effect on the prow torpedo decks, or some such.

An orbital defence cannon is largely cut off from the infrastructure and power grid of the city around it. It's common sense design, since it keeps someone from simply digging up the street and cutting the wires. No they have their own fusion reactor in the basement of the thing, It would in all likelyhood, require a direct hit to render the emplacement inoperable.

And using the Nova Cannon as a threat is an option. Of course you're neglecting that the target population may very well reply "go ahead", at which point you're left at an impasse, as you obviously wanted to invade the planet for some reason, and said reason might not survive the Nova Cannon strike.

Blood Pact said:

So you're basically saying that these orbital defence structures are fully contained and independent - much like a ship. Disruption Cannons can shut down ships, so it stands to reason that they can shut down defences such as these.

As for the Nova Cannon, remember that if they try to call your bluff you lose nothing but something you could have potentially gained (and a nova cannon shell or two) a while the idot that tries to call that bluff loses everything. The only target populations that would make that kind of idiotic call are the ones that you wouldn't want to try to fight a land war against in any case.

HappyDaze said:

Yes and no.

I'm saying that orbital defence structures are quite often fully contained mini-fortresses, with their own power generation facilities for the operation of the structure and its weapons systems (and the structure's other systems and defences, which sometimes include void shields). I'm also saying that it is independent of the city around it, so shooting willy nilly about the city isn't garaunteed to take them out with the rest of the city structures, as well as anything moving about within the city (civilian and military traffic). It's contained and independant from the city. Whereas a ship is more like the city itself, and as I said before, by its very nature requires that every portion of the ship be connected to every other portion. The gun-decks aren't on an entirely distinct set of power generators and conduits from the rest of the ship, which is not the case with a city and its defensive instalations. Which I never said couldn't be shut down by Disruption Cannons, I've been saying that it will take more accurate targeting than simply blanketing the city in random fire on the assumption that it's all on the same power grid.

How cavalier of you to think that it's no loss to simply blow up the planet with a Nova Cannon, too. If you're willing to just blow it up, was the entire point of a planetary invasion even worth it either?

Uh, Guys? Exterminatus is never a good or profitable option by Imperial or Rogue trader standards! It renders all of the planet's recourses at least temporarily unavailable. That's why the Imperium will only do it as a last resort when they believe they Can not take the world by conventional means and destroying it will deny it to an enemy! BOTH of these criteria must be met before the Inquisition will sanction exterminatus. Firing a Nova Cannon at a Human populated world without inquisitorial sanction would be Heresy! Firing one at a Xenos world would at least cause one's warrant to come under review!

Radwraith said:

Fortunately, the Nova Cannon is not considered Exterminatus weaponry. Also fortunate that Imperial laws don't really apply the same outside of actual Imperial space - like the Koronus Expanse. Much more likely that an objection might come from other Rogue Traders as they have much more say in such areas.

I'd also point out that using the Nova Cannon is a bluff that will likely only get called once. After devastating one group of proud fools and making the outcome known, few would be willing to call that bluff again.

Cryhavok said:

The resources you suggest are FAR beyond what a typical colony in the Expanse will have for defenses. As for your 'Army of Light' (B5 reference) defense, that's so far way from what we typically see in WH40K canon - where factions just don't come together like that - that I can't take it seriously. Sometimes, the players really do have the biggest stick in the area and they can swing it how they will.