Armed Personnel Carriers (Transports)

An interesting upgrade or add-on into the StarCraft 2 universe that I would like to see is to outfit troop transports with some sort of weapon.I say this because it would have an interesting effect on battles because not only will you have to hassle with the package delivered, you have to hassle with the deliverer. The airships can provide a degree of suppressive fire (if you will) and add another dimension to the battlefield.

Though using them heavily to attack would not be recommended as troop transports are valuable resources in any wayward battle. Some of you may say that this would be ridiculous but I think it would be great, I mean if you look at real world applications such as the Pandur II, Bradley Fighting Units, and several aerial transport gunships, you would see why adding something like a machine gun, minimized photon cannon, etc. etc. would be of some tactical importance.

 

I like this idea. Say troops could fire out of the troop transport while it moves, while at the same time the troops would be more vulnerable due to their imminent death if the transport ship explodes. I really like this idea, it would be like a comparatively low HP flying bunker, that would further differentiate Terran transport. (I mean hell if Protoss get teleportation abilities and pylon energy from their troop transport, and Zerg get the Nydus Worm, transport troops anywhere on the map unit, then Terran justly deserve a unique and diverse update to their unit transportation.) Personally however I think this ability should only work with infantry, as you could imagine mass transport ships full of charon goliaths would be extremely unfair against enemy air units.

 

we should change the death thing. in warcraft, they get out without a scratch of the transport (zepellin) dies on land. on water however, they die. but in starcraft, they should come out injured. i like the shooting from the transport idea.

 

If protoss or Zerg fall out of the sky, they can get injured, but if Terran research something called Rocket boosters or w/e, they can land without any damage.

 

Actually, in warcraft their movement and attack speed is decreased for a short time after the Zeppelin explodes.

Black Hawk Helicopters
AC-130 Spooky Gunships
Strykers!

Bradleys are so old. Strykers are the new thing.

Stryker!

 

eh if you have a weapon on a transporter, you might attract defensive units to target on to them bringing more of a chance that the transport would be destroyed. There's really no such thing as suppressing fire in starcraft. it's not like you can put a weapon on a transport and expect the enemy to take cover and lower its chances of hitting the transport. The only way to take fire away from the transport is have supporting air or ground units to accompany and cover the transport.

Now that's starcraft for ya.

The thing is... this is more than 500 years into the future. Tactics change especially in space.

 

It's true that suppressive fire in StarCraft won't cause the enemies to run and hide, which is why I mentioned it would provide some degree of offensive capability. Normally people would accompany a drop ship with supporting units anyway, however I did say arming the ship would add another dimension to it, because not only are you fighting off Wraiths (or whatever SC2 is going to replace them with), Battle Cruisers, etc. etc. you would also have drop ships chipping at your defenses as well.

Well if we are so advanced into the future in the StarCraft universe, then why are we still using projectile type weapons instead of lasers? Sure, the Wraith and Battle Cruiser have them, but that would be expected of a fighter and a capital ship. Also why don't we have clones and battle droids instead of using up reconditioned convicts? And why are we still banging heads instead of using precision guided munitions? So many things to ask... but as you said

"Now that's starcraft for ya."

 

yea but i'm saying it's going to draw more fire onto the transports since it is more of an offensive threat now to the defenders, and it's a bonus since it carries a payload.

So, for instance, you bring a couple of wraiths to accompany a dropship. Both fires a weapon however one carries a payload. It is more likely that the dropship would be fired upon because it is attracting fire by shooting at the enemy. Also, depending on the AI and a reasonable human player:

1. The dropship fired on me, I'm going to attack it.
2. The dropship is more of a threat since it has a weapon and carries a payload, I'm going to attack it.
3. Both.

And it also depends on the strength of the weapon. If it's like the wraith's laser, then it really does more harm than good. You see what I mean? Is it really worth it?

hehe also projectiles are used for more explosive and splash damage. A laser is more for precision and quickness. The terrans utilizes both. Projectiles (haha especially nukes) have there advantages over lasers. Really who would use bone-headed (with computer AI which has no common sense) battle droids instead of humans. And the terrans represent humanity too. Precision guided munitions are used. Do you see any missle turrets or any goliaths or a nuke missing any targets? haha noooooo.

 

Hmm. Sounds intresting, and Terrans need a mobility buff with all the new stuff for 'toss and Zerg. This could be the sulotion. Mebbe make Marines be able to fire out of a dropship when some kind of research is completed; say, "Gunship Upgrade". But no tanks or vultures strafing my Hydras, no no!

Good idea though. Could boost infantry to a more active role then swarming M&Ms. Sometimes I think that Dark Age tactics reign in the Terran world. Geez.

Oh, and no firing on air...or something like that...

 

against a computer, it would run. flyingtiger you're way off. it doesn't attract enemies, it sends them away. "Oh shit that transport has guns!"

 

who cares if the transport has a weapon. regardless its gonna get shot down anyways. unless the weapon in the transport is so f-in powerful. if i was playing against that, i shoot that transport down right away. even if its so damn powerful, i'm still gonna target it cause its more of a threat. Who wants a couple of tanks or several marines pounding on my base where I could just kill 2 (up to 8 ) birds with one stone.

In conclusion (prolly repeating from previous points), its gonna want me to shoot the transport more so than before.

 

Dropships had a bomb attack in alpha Starcraft.
It was dropped for a reason.
~Pix~

 

ild like terran helicopters for the tanks so it can be put in the nuke mode where it cant be moved but wont be targetable by ground only units as well it would mean faster transport for them.

 

Wouldn't you be targeting the transport anyway? It's usually a high priority target on most maps and I would not have like to have shit dropped on me. So this is why it would be nice to have the dropship defend itself against hostiles (VIEW EXAMPLE A) and it would also be nice if it could support dropped units (VIEW EXAMPLE B.)

EXAMPLE A: Dropship vs. Mutalisk
Dropship has just unloaded package, now en route to home base. Random Mutalisk scout detects it and engages. Now instead of the dropship getting it's ass pummeled like before, it now has a friendly cannon to return fire. Sure the dropship won't win the battle of attrition but it'll be enough to deal some damage so that Mutalisk knows not to attack a dropship again without the help of it's buddies.

EXAMPLE B: Dropship provides supporting fire
"This is Foxtrot 1, package safely delivered and unloaded."
Marines sprawl out and suddenly hostiles appear.
"This is Squad Zulu! Requesting some 30mm mayhem!"
Dropship unloads some helpful cannon shots.
"Hostiles neutralized."

Now sure they won't be having that conversation in-game, but not only are the Marines firing but so is the dropship with some additional damage.

Look at it this way, the dropship could be outfitted with some sort of cannon (Rate of fire is mediocre and damage is explosive) making it deal 50% of its original damage to smaller units and all that other math. You can give it the command to either attack-move to destination or just move and drop.

 

hmmm imagine those are actually really good examples. haha i'm just so into protecting my cargo so when I play I always bring in air support.

Yes it really depends on how powerful the attacks are and it usually is likely that more than one mutalisk will come and attack the dropship. I mean one overload by a phoenix may (or may not lol) destroy that dropship and even if unsuccessful would lose really at most (maybe we don't know how the dropship attack strength would be) in my opinion just the shield. I mean its not like the dropship is gonna stick around trying to down that phoenix. So yea I love your examples though  owerup:

... and even in the starcraft manual, they prefered more cargo space than a fitted weapon hehe

 

I wonder blizzard even look at these words!

 

Or emergency drop pods.

 

I generally try to suppress any AA before I drop troops in. Or I try to slip them in past defenses.