Dropships in Science Fiction (And Why They're So Damn Cool)

[@Taisto-Perkele]

_"Foster can't you shake them?"_ _"Major, this is a Dropship! It doesn't shake, it drops!"_ Always loved that line in MechAssault 2.

[@Bobdd0]

That's so freaking good

[@prophetofbeans6781]

I'm sad they didn't mention Battletech, but at least we are here to enjoy it

[@sheilaolfieway1885]

Battltech has imho some of the most interesting dropships from the huge Overlord to the single lance or Star Leopard/Broadsword.

[@jakeg3733]

Have you played the new games? Clans is awesome, it's the spiritual successor to MA, MW2 and MW3

[@Taisto-Perkele]

@@jakeg3733 Have played Online, 4 Mercs and 5+DLC. The new Clans is somewhere on my ever growing "I'll play it some day" list lol.

[@oliverewarthopkins7818]

Dropships exist in Sci-Fi so that space marines can still listen to Fortunate Son in the future. *Edit* Two months later, WOW 3,700 likes!

[@jipillow1]

This is it. The ultimate comment

[@jon-paulfilkins7820]

I find no flaws in this argument

[@jakeaurod]

I thought I had a good comment, but... "It ain't me..."

[@josiahnunley2910]

“This ‘Stuff’ is your History! It should remind you Grunts what we’re fighting to protect”

[@oliverewarthopkins7818]

​@@josiahnunley2910 COME ON YOU APES, YOU WANNA LIVE FOR EVER?

[@EternalFireseal]

The video left out one of the most striking features of the Pelican in HELLDIVERS: Its flight path on approach is almost totally vertical, performing an extreme braking maneuver at the last second. It also very quickly increases the angle of its flight after liftoff. It is absolutely focused on the mentality of "get in, get out, don't die" (the Pelicans are actually more valuable than the Helldivers they're supposedly supporting).

[@jeremychicken3339]

Pelican maybe more valued than most helldivers, but my Helldiver has gone nearly 15 difficulty 10 missions without dying, so IDK how much a Ultra Veteran Helldiver is worth (Considering most helldivers only live for 2 minutes).

[@lolmeme69_]

@@jeremychicken3339 Doesn't your helldiver change every time you log off though? It's also implied that if you ever queue up with anyone and then leave, they just enter the freeze pod on their ship.

[@jeremychicken3339]

@@lolmeme69_ I don't like that idea. personally, unless the diver dies, it's the same guy especially since the skills of the last run pass on to the next.

[@EternalFireseal]

It's the same Helldiver when you log back on. I've managed to hold on to Helldivers for several days.

[@jeremychicken3339]

@@EternalFireseal Nice, My current main helldiver is a new record, having been alive for 15 days (I do one mission per day, whish is 3 objectives) so my helldiver survived 33.75 hours of combat!

[@TheWarmachine375]

Unlucky Clone Trooper: "Good thing those bugs can't aim." Genosians: *shoot down a LAAT with Clone Troopers falling to their doom*

[@ZeroDarkness-]

At least they didn't have giant plasma bug that shoot plasma to orbit Can't imagine Geonosis orbit become death trap for Venator like what happened in Klendathu orbit 😅

[@darkbooger]

*insert earblast Monsters Inc. theme here*

[@riccardogemme]

Such an iconic scene

[@TehAntares]

Geonosian: "And I took that personally."

[@Awol991]

Somehow those bugs that "can't aim" manage to shell earth from "the other side of the universe". Evidence of pretty good aim and weapons that could hit things in orbit.

[@mahatmarandy5977]

The Aliens helicopter reference was also evident in the name, “Cheyenne.” US Army helicopters types are generally named after American Indian tribes. Comanche, Apache, Blackhawk, Chinook, Lakota, etc

[@akizeta]

Look up the Lockheed AH-56 _Cheyenne._ Experimental gunship of the Seventies.

[@whee38]

The official name of the huey is Iriquos

[@mahatmarandy5977]

@ I did not know that!

[@DIREWOLFx75]

@@akizeta And potentially FAR better than the Apache that was chosen instead.

[@akizeta]

@@DIREWOLFx75 My mistake, the _Cheyenne_ was a late-Sixties program, which was before the Advanced Attack Helicopter program that developed _Apache._

[@mitwhitgaming7722]

I maintain that nothing beats the mission briefing in a dropship trope! Doubly so if the scene has a killer sound track!

[@SystemBD]

Indeed. And these scenes can also serve as the perfect load screen.

[@joshuahadams]

“On the blood of our fathers, on the blood of our sons, we swore to uphold the Covenant!” _”EVEN TO OUR DYING BREATH!”_

[@hellacoorinna9995]

*Long Tall Sally intensifies*

[@DonPatrono]

*Klendathu Drop in crescendo*

[@MGSLurmey]

The XCOM Skyranger comes to mind. Certainly fits the criteria of hot insertion and extraction, high speeds, and transport of troops and cargo both by direct landing and hovering deployment, but does notably not drop from orbit.

[@dariustiapula]

Every other Fiction Dropship: Troop transport. Battetech dropship: Mech transport. Crunchies are extra.

[@simonvelar]

What's with the Sergeant this morning? He got the Munchies. What? They dropped his pod straight into HQ ..oh

[@Mandemon1990]

To be fair, BattleTech also has multiple non-mech transporting vehicles, and lorewise most DropShips don't actually carry mechs.

[@dariustiapula]

@simonvelar Aren't those call "shuttles"?.:v

[@TrepidDestiny]

Comstar approves this post.

[@simonvelar]

@@dariustiapula what comment do you answer for ?

[@ODST576]

Love the Battletech dropships. With the two main types. Going from a single 4 mech lance to an entire company of mech, Infantry and ground support. They are truly awesome.

[@TheTrueAdept]

... some designs can haul up to regimental-sized units, actually.

[@redenginner]

Theres even ones that are basically baby WarShips!

[@spartanalex9006]

Then you get Assault DropShips which are basically either Ultra-Heavy Fighters or small Warships.

[@zachelkins1229]

There's also the one that is basically a drop down mini castle providing its own artillery support in the form of 3 Long Toms

[@justusrometh8530]

Laughs in w40k mechanicus

[@colonelhammerhead]

Republic Gunship has and will always be my favorite dropship

[@zackzeed]

Gotta agree with that. It's also what I got to know when I grew up so it's hard to beat the familiar and nostalgic feeling.

[@briansass4865]

Mandalorian Basilisk?

[@jamesstevenson9056]

I feel like that one blurs the line between dropship and gunship. (Also doesn't the name "gunship" just sound so badass?)

[@Wintermute909]

Same, and even tho it was based on a Hind, it reminds me a lot of a Huey.

[@rileyernst9086]

Simple. Sides open right up like a huey.

[@jacobbronsky464]

No battletech mention. I am contacting my lawyers. (My alcoholic brother-in law Albert and my cat Bismarck, to be specific.)

[@MesaperProductions]

Bismarck's got great courtroom presence!

[@MrQuantumInc]

Battletech defines "dropship" in a radically different way from most media. Any craft that is capable of space flight, but lacks FTL is a drop ship. In fact in Battletech the turn based computer game, the "Argo" is your main ship and cannot land onto planets, (relying on a separate dropship to deliver mechs) but it is still termed a "dropship".

[@DauntlessProductionz]

Yeah whoever decided the Argo was a "dropship" was smoking something. Its definitely more of a long range support ship with its massive storage and living spaces. Hell it even had automated mech repair bays. Its the kinda ship you want supporting your operations, which is perfect for a merc outfit. But definitely not a dropship by even the settings own standards.

[@Scriptedviolince]

​@MrQuantumInc well yes and no. Battletech Dropships "drop away from the Jumpship" not "drop down to the planet". So yes. The Argo is a Dropship because it possesses a docking collar that allows it to jump with a jumpship. Ships that don't have docking collars are either Dropshuttles or jumpships with zero inbetween.

[@denniskrenz2080]

@@MrQuantumInc The tabletop is way more diverse. In your definition, also small craft and aerospace fighters would fit perfectly. Dropships can (at least in theory) always carry smaller craft and vehicles, which these two can't. They can't even carry lifeboats. A docking collar for is mandatory for dropships, on small craft, they are optional.

[@Tallacus]

The Valkyrie Shuttle from Avatar and Halo's Pelican (and according to the lore its been in service for 300+ years)... *chef's kiss*

[@silentnight6015]

if it aint broke don't fix it

[@CptJistuce]

​@@silentnight6015I suddenly want to see Master Chief with a 1911 for a sidearm.

[@TheMhalpern]

​@@CptJistucena an M2 as an LMG

[@bsquaredbundles]

Is that why they always crashing?

[@CptJistuce]

@@TheMhalpern Why not both? The aliens were prepared for anything but centuries-old leadslingers!

[@fidel-3470]

One overlooked aspect in SciFi but commonly found in helicopters is medical evacuation. This might be an unarmed ship intentionally trying to look non-threatening (such as painted white) or a ship with some amount of medical facilities on board. It might move casualties to a planet-side medical center or back up to orbit.

[@littlekong7685]

I love adding ships like these to my fleets, something to provide evac to larger medical facilities from small ships or stations, or from ground to orbital care centres. Or to move a special patient from one colony to a core world where advanced medical care can be provided.

[@PaddyInf]

An interesting fact (to me at least) is that many people think that medical helicopters are unarmed due to the Geneva Conventions or some other operational law. In reality, there is nothing legally preventing them from carrying weapons. They are usually unarmed because weapons and ammo are heavy and take up space/weight, which are severely limited in helicopters and are better used for additional casualty capacity. The British MERT helicopters, for example, were usually armed as they were in Chinooks which has the lift capacity for a full trauma team and casualties plus the weapons.

[@TheWampam]

@@PaddyInf nope, medical personal is only allowed light weaponry for self defense in case of an unlawful attack.

[@PaddyInf]

@TheWampam Light weapons are not defined in the protocols and are instead interpreted by individual nations. On Ops Telic and Herrick, they were defined by the British military as personal weapons such as rifles and pistols when dismounted, as well as machine guns in the vehicle defensive roles.

[@Raguleader]

@@PaddyInf Generally speaking, if they want the legal protections of putting the Red Cross or other symbols to mark the craft as noncombatant, they have to be very careful about what kind of weapons they mount. Having said that, there are plenty of cases of vehicles being modified to serve as medical transports without bothering with the noncombatant markings. The USAF, for example, retired its fleet of C-9 Nightingale medevac aircraft and now just uses conventional cargo planes with palletized medical support equipment loaded aboard to transport patients.

[@avengermkii7872]

I mean who doesn't want to see a fleet of troop transports dropping into a hotzone? It's pretty epic.

[@chrislaf89]

Not everything can be handled by air strikes. You eventually need boots on the ground. What better way to do so then dropships screaming through the atmosphere, armor sizzling from the anti-air fire coming from the ground while the fleet drops rail rounds on anti-air batteries to help protect their dropships as the ground troops start discharging from the dropships to take final control over key assets that could be used by the invading side?

[@GaldirEonai]

Probably the people being dropped. There's a reason opposed landings are only considered when every single other option has been exhausted already :P.

[@thekaxmax]

Skeet shooting!

[@saucevc8353]

"who doesn't want to see a fleet of troop transports dropping into a hotzone?" Idk, but I imagine the guys they're dropping on aren't exactly happy about it.

[@thekaxmax]

​@@saucevc8353 hey, it might be Father Xmas! Have had that, by the way--when I was a kid we had an Army chopper deliver Father Xmas to our base Xmas party.

[@soldiersPL]

6:10 LAATs were originally designed as mostly atmospheric family of planes, but shortly after outbreak of clone wars they were modified with limited void capacity so they could've taken off from carrier with troops and vehicles while in low orbit, I think it was shown in like first battle of Felucia in Clone Wars series

[@sammywhite5127]

Speaking of this there was another drop ship the Republic developed later in the war specifically designed for rapid orbital insertion the HAET-221

[@tracytron7162]

It's seen repeatedly throughout TCW

[@cass7448]

Also shown in the miniseries at Muunilist, in the usual over-the-top fashion for that show (with *hundreds* of gunships).

[@achillesa5894]

Yup, the ones we see in AotC are atmosphere only but we often see them in TCW do orbital drops. It's a neat bit of lore.

[@halo253578]

There were atleast two versions, the LAAT, which was modified mid-war with orbital insertion capabilities, and the MAAT, which was the dedicated 'dropship' variant, with full exo-armoslheric capabilities (IIRC, the biggest difference between the two was a completely sealed troop bay, unlike the partially sealed one of the LAAT. (The panels on the sides of the LAAT could be unsealed to make firing ports for the troops inside. I'm not implying that the LAAT modified version had a leaky troop bay.)

[@georgeowain]

Fun fact about the drop ship from Aliens. The guy who designed its look, was a Thunderbirds fan. And considered this look, his version of Thunderbird 2. He would later design craft for the CGI Captain Scarlet series.

[@tracytron7162]

Huh, now that you mention it it really does share a very similar design language with a lot of the vehicles in NCS!

[@datathunderstorm]

That'll explain why I fell in love with that Drop Ship from Aliens straight away. I'm a great Thunderbirds fan too. 😁

[@taxi9554]

Loved the Alien dropship…..and the pilot of course ❤

[@Rexotec]

Mini shoutout to the Skyranger from XCom: Enemy Unknown - not technically a dropship but it is in my HEART. It's always there for me, even when everyone else ain't...

[@basilisgkotsis4042]

Eee Don't forget the Skyranger and the Average of XCOM UFO Defense

[@MGSLurmey]

The Skyranger absolutely fits almost all the criteria for a dropship. The ONLY thing it doesn't do is drop from orbit, however I do think the one in XCOM 2 could do that!

[@gabriel300010]

@@basilisgkotsis4042 dont forget the humble lightning

[@HailHydra27]

Motion seconded. You'd think in EU at least they would have given them orbital capability upgrades like the Interceptors

[@HailHydra27]

@@andrewstrongman305 it never leaves earth in the one i played

[@thatstarwarsnerd6641]

The ISSAPC from ‘Space: Above and Beyond’ is a great example of a drop ship which utilises the drop-off cargo module idea

[@Tetsujinhanmaa]

It was the best at that role.

[@be-noble3393]

I was disappointed it didn’t come up in this episode.

[@TheTrueAdept]

... nor did they reference Battletech and Ground Control dropships...

[@fullzer0]

It was interesting that it wasn't brought up in the video even though the functions were talked about so heavily.

[@benjaminzuses1142]

@@fullzer0 Few of us remember that delightful sci-fi.

[@weaselwolf]

Kinda surprised/sad not to see any battletech/mechwarrior dropships mentioned. Not only do they have different styles (spherical/ovoid and aerotyne), they're often HUGE because they're dropping from four to 36 full sized heavy battle mechs, and they;re usually extremely heavily armed. In battletech they're very multi-role. In the setting the FTL carrier ships (Jumpships) are usually stuck at the zenith/nadir points of a system's star and the dropship handles the burn from there all the way to the planet, down into the ground and back up again for both military and civilian transport of all kinds. They even have "dropships" that don't actually drop into the atmpsphere but drop from the main jumphip and serve as pocket battleships since actual FTL warships are essentially extinct in the bulk of the setting. The larger spheroid/ovoid dropships actualy double as mobile bastions, becoming a nearly unassailable fortress upon landing due to the sheer ridiculous volume of fire that such a huge vessel can put out (and because in the earlier periods especially, attacking dropships and especially jumpships is a major taboo because of how rare they are and capture is preferred to destruction) Dropships are a MASSIVE part of battletech/mechwarrior and the games have plenty of footage of them in action

[@rddragon5]

Good read 👍

[@huntermad5668]

Those are essentially real spaceships called Dropships. The only ones that can be called "Drop ships" in BT is the types like Leopards. Drop ships in other series means u usually operate from a mother ship in or out atmosphere not landed and support via acting as a base

[@bwcmakro]

@@huntermad5668 if you can mention the Acclamator, you can mention the BT DropShips. They do operate from "motherships", btw, DropShips have no FTL capability.

[@randlebrowne2048]

@@bwcmakro To be fair, the Acclamator was really more of an assault transport ship. The Battletech dropships would also fall into this category. Most people think of dropships (outside of Battletech) as being more like assault landing *shuttles* rather than major ships of their own.

[@huntermad5668]

@@bwcmakro Accamator are never called Dropship. It is a Assault ship. He mentioned Acc in the video but as an example of assault ship deploy troops directly on a planet

[@FearlessSon]

It's a bit of a pet-peeve of mine that so many dropships in fiction, upon being released from their parent craft in orbit, turn and burn *towards* the planet. Which is exactly the wrong thing to do if you want to de-orbit quickly. They ought to be accelerating opposite the orbital vector of their parent craft to start reducing their orbital velocity, then cut the throttle and flip to whatever side of the craft has the best heat-resistance and largest surface area to further bleed velocity via atmospheric friction, before finally settling into a forward position for powered atmospheric flight. And this doesn't have to be done as some dry paean to realism either, you can totally include a lot of references to real-world craft and operations in this. A dropship might be ejected from it's parent craft via a catapult system, similar to a fighter launching from a conventional aircraft carrier. It might have variable geometry which stays tucked in during space flight and atmospheric entry only to spread majestically as it transitions to atmospheric flight, similar to an F-14.

[@therealdemen247]

Fancy running into you here.

[@TheSchultinator]

We're kinda hitting the snag here that an orbital-to-atmo insertion would, realistically, only be done either right at the boundary, or in a larger vessel (a la Acclimator-class), otherwise you'd spend too much time waiting while especially vulnerable. It really depends on a setting and how it treats spaceflight whether or not canceling orbital velocity would be needed. And, arguably, accelerating towards a planet would minimize time in vacuum since you'd be getting to atmosphere faster than gravity alone; maybe burn at an angle so the craft kills orbital velocity and accelerates planetside at the same time.

[@DIREWOLFx75]

"They ought to be accelerating opposite the orbital vector of their parent craft to start reducing their orbital velocity" That assumes that the parent ship HAS an orbital vector at all. Which is absolutely not universally true.

[@MonkeyJedi99]

There you go, getting good, solid, practical science on our "Shoot-em-up with lasers and plasma!" stories... - Hehe, I kid. WHen I was a young'un, I as the one counting shots out of revolvers on old black & white cowboy movies and shouting when they hit bullets 7, 8, and 9.

[@XMysticHerox]

Depends on how the big ship got there. In any setting with a jump drive they might be sitting essentially still. In battletech for instance they'd be in a Lagrange point and dropships have to first burn towards their targets then flip as you'd expect.

[@jakobrandel8105]

An early love of Battletech made me love the dropship. Geodesic sphere with engines on the bottom is just... cool.

[@agentoranj5858]

We've got the biggest balls of them all.

[@ChuJungyin]

Did you mean geodesic sphere?

[@matthewneuendorf5763]

I grew up on Battletech dropships and still have a preference for the spherical dropships from that setting.

[@lokai7914]

To quote a dropmaster I once knew, "EVERYTHING is droppable... at least once"

[@alexboehm3919]

I love what Star Wars squadrons did with its dropships. Where it has the U-wing & TIE Reaper serving as support craft in battle

[@kevingriffith6011]

I have to give a special mention to the Protoss Warp Prism from Starcraft. Rather than loading up a cabin full of troops onto the warp prism like a traditional dropship, the Warp Prism is essentially carrying a stargate. A single warp prism can effectively deploy an unlimited number of protoss infantry to the frontline from anywhere in the local protoss gate network, making it potentially the single most effective dropship in fiction. The limiting factor being that the warp prism's gateway effect can't be used by larger vehicles for game balance reasons. (I'd like to imagine the protoss simply don't have gate technology large enough to transport troops in such a fashion).

[@TheNobody1324]

Warp prisms can actually also transport troops by turning them into energy and then storing their signature on its crystal. Also they can definitely warp in larger units in the campaign. I imagine this takes a lot more energy to do so it’s not done too often

[@thewarmindswrath]

Game balance wise: can't transfer anything else than from gateways. Campaign/coop/lore wise: if it's a power field I own, I can warp anything so have 10 carriers.

[@achillesa5894]

The Protoss are wild with their warp tech, a single probe building a pylon is canonically all you need to warp an army down to the planet

[@Joshua-yf5mh]

@@achillesa5894 The opening to Legacy of the Void!

[@Keemperor40K]

Battletech has a host of these and a whole swat of their space to orbit assets ate dedicated dropships. You have the base variant that is just for delivering a single combat group to ground, carrying between 4 and 5 mechs (4 for Inner Sphere Lances and 5 for Clan Stars), to the whole Dropship which is a small starship designed to carry hordes of mechs from orbit to surface. The recent MW5 Clans has a few cutscenes of these ships doing combat drops and its gorgeous. Every space faring civilization has a variant of these adapted to the specifics of its setting.

[@joeblacksci]

Absolutely love how every shot is referenced. Helped me find so much good sci-fi media to watch.

[@tomc9453]

Top Gear making it into a Spacedock video, I can die happy now...

[@darkbooger]

Something I also love seeing in Sci-Fi are drop pods similar to what Helldivers, ODSTs and the Grineer use in their respective settings.

[@Raguleader]

Roughnecks: The Starship Trooper Chronicles had a fun variant where the dropships would deploy from the capital ships, zip in close to the planet, then drop the troopers in drop pods like bombs from a bomber. IIRC we see a similar deployment method for the Jumptroops in Exo Squad.

[@Thornbloom]

​@@Raguleaderspace borne paratroopers

[@buttercup9709]

One of my all time favourite video game cutscenes is the opening cutscene to the mission "The Ark" in halo 3. Not only because it's got the shipmaster dropping the absolute baller of a line "then it is an even fight", but because of the scene with you, johnson, and the ODSTs dropping on to the surface of the Ark in Pelicans from Forward Unto Dawn, through the middle of a full blown space battle. Then the opening cutscene of the next mission is the pelicans and phantoms making the run on the towers, again showing off how sick gunships are.

[@DrakeAurum]

Mass Effect is another of those stretching-the-definitions examples. Yes, shuttles are predominantly used in ME2 and 3, but in ME1 the Normandy herself is an effective dropship, stealthily deploying either ground vehicles or individual infantry squads to the battlefield as needed.

[@TheArklyte]

The best and often overlooked part is that most of these have insane carry capacity that allows something akin to Mi-12/T-64 combo to be achieved. There are a lot to be said about how bad Mammoth, Scorpion or Baneblade are in terms of design practicality, BUT thanks to theor respective dropships, they're all *air transportable.* Which is a big deal when you try to criticise something for its size and weight and then find out that it doesn't matter if it fits railways or bridges, it can be airlifted.

[@cameronnewton7053]

Everybody has a plan, until 60 tons of HE spewing _de-vine intervention_ gets dropped on your forehead.

[@glynrh8892]

There is something uniquely awesome about dropships

[@nanomachinesson2513]

My favorite dropship is the Overlord dropship used by the Helghast from Killzone, which i feel is very underappreciated. It has spots for infantry to repel from on the sides, it has wide arc guns for covering fire mounted on the sides for suppressing enemy infantry, its landing legs are incorporated into the crafts aerodynamic shape, and it has the ability to ditch the troop compartment for vehicle transport. Plus it just looks amazing. Whats not to love!

[@MonkeyJedi99]

I loved that first sequence in Killzone. Kind of a, "Hey, you're awake, NOW GET IN THE BOX AND DROP ONTO A PLANET OF DEATH!"

[@gunnargunnarsson5963]

Meanwhile the ISA’s Intruder dropship: no onboard weapons, no roofs, no safety harnesses for some reason, I mean, the UCN is not that broke to build a dropship that has basic safety measures, especially for an invasion of a planet that has such hostile environment like Helghen.

[@56bturn]

@@gunnargunnarsson5963 It does actually have a weapon, there's some sort of gatling-gun mounted just beneath the cockpit, but you never see it used.

[@mushuwu]

"Dear Lord, that's over 150 atmospheres of pressure!" "How many atmospheres can the ship withstand?" "Well it's a spaceship, so I'd say anywhere between zero and one."

[@justusrometh8530]

Besides Battlerech, I think the big omission here is Dropzone Commander, essentially a miniature wargame all about things that can be dropped from dropships (as well as dropfleet commander, of course)

[@TrepidDestiny]

So sad that that game cratered out. I sold my UCM army a couple of years ago because nobody freaking plays it or carries it anymore.

[@darrenrichardson6146]

Dropfleet Commander just got a second edition through TTCombat games

[@XMysticHerox]

I mean that is a very niche wargame. BT is one of the big ones. I get not mentioning the former.

[@Irobert1115HD]

fun fact: the first craft with RCS thrusters was the bell X1. wich is btw the only contribution of the Bell X1 to aerospace development.

[@electrohalo8798]

Wish you could have mentioned battletech and it’s many dropships, but good video as always

[@techstormdarkvision3590]

Something you could also talk about in a future video is orbital drop pods. There are a few good examples of these, like Quake 2/4, Command & Conquer, and, probably the most famous example, 40k. Being able to insert forces anywhere on the battlefield could allow for numerous tactical advantages and strategies. I also think Drop Pods are more descreet than a big loud dropship. If you can jam an enemy's sensors or radar long enough to get the pods to the planet's surface, you could have a small force behind enemy lines ready to do some damage.

[@amspider9475]

40k? Don’t you mean the ODSTs?

[@tyrannosaurusimperator]

The 40k drop pods have the added benefit of being filled with superhumans who can survive a bit of deceleration, and so can be used as an orbital bombardment.

[@stephen1r2]

the problem with drop pods is their inherent disposability. Along with the possible message that you are only coming back if you win

[@CptJistuce]

​@@stephen1r2That message is a plus in some settings. Want to make it clear the troops are considered consumables? Use a one-way drop pod. Want to underline that the troops are so badass that victory is assumed? One-way drop pod.

[@TheAzureGhost]

Other mentions of Droppods : Battlefield 2142. You can use them in transportvehicles/titans to catapult yourself where you want to be or drop in from orbit on respawn via squadbeacon. Armored Core also sends Mechas down in Droppods at times. (there are also some in Battletech) An alternative similar to droppods would also be the "manned rocket" sometimes appearing in some anime like symphogear where they put two magical girls in a rocket and fire it into the targetarea.

[@seldomseenkid7381]

I see you with the X4: Foundations soundtrack, absolute peak 🗣️🔥🔥

[@SuprSBG]

YES!!! I was so surprised when I heard it as I’d never heard it outside of the game til now

[@ranekeisenkralle8265]

I am more than a bit surprised that Battletech's various dropships were not even mentioned. I mean, heck, npot only are many of them quite big chonkers, but some are also fully capable of securing their own landing zone by sheer weight of firepower. Fortress-class dropship, I am looking at you. That's a self-contained space-head ready for insertion straight onto the battlefield, including its own garrison for the area and heavy artillery support.

[@josebisk]

I think what I appreciate about spacedock is that the videos are (often) short but sweet. They don’t take a long time to get the point across, and they’re packed with interesting information and references 🙌

[@alfagamingnl1815]

Me after watching this entire video "Where are the Battletech dropships?" there so incredibly prominent in that setting with a with pretty much one existing for every possible role. From civilian to military or from small to large to massive. You really missed opportunity here.

[@roguevector1268]

There's also the 'casino staffed by catgirls' variety. Thanks, Canopus!

[@XMysticHerox]

Also one of the earliest mentions of the term. Written together anyways.

[@XMysticHerox]

@LanceLeaderSawyer I think it's really just that they stick to a couple big IPs in general to click farm.

[@ernstbergerbrent]

I love the video. I dunno if you showed an example, but Battletech/Mechwarrior has some cool dropships.

[@johnwiebe8581]

I am shocked to not see the ISSCV from Space: Above and Beyond here! Especially when you mentioned the dropping of a box (SS:Troopers) which is literally what it was designed to do. Also, its was defended with 2 gun turrets.

[@ChuJungyin]

"Now, that's a name I haven't heard in a long time, a long time." Edit: A turret on top and at least one machine gun manned from the cargo pod IIRC. Probably two machine guns, one port and one starboard.

[@MatteoB-gx1bo]

The Battletech/mechwarriors' spheroid dropships are so unique!

[@thekaxmax]

Just like the Traveller RPG's Mercenary ship. ;)

[@rayanderson5797]

They're big eggs. Like a kinder surprise, but the toy inside is an assault lance.

[@ajollyduck]

One of my favourite takes on a hybrid dropship is the 40k Valkyrie and its many variants. Specifically the Vulture gunship which sports only a small cargo hold due to it's extra weapons and armour including the goofy armoured turbine(s). And the Vendetta heavy gunship that's basically a tank hunter with its 6+ lascannons and stronger power plant.

[@RockRanchCowboy]

Gotta love the pelican.

[@joelperez3159]

Good memories

[@Tallacus]

and their FTL capable big brother the Condors

[@mso82]

I know Helldivers takes a lot from Halo (ODST for sure), but is their drop ship REALLY called the Pelican... just, like no attempt to differentiate it? It even looks like a small version of the D77-TC. That all said... I really wish they would bring it to Xbox so I could play it :(

[@RorikH]

@@mso82 Yeah, at least call it a Seagull.

[@RetroRadianceLight]

@@RorikHor the albatross

[@themadspartan]

“You know our motto! We deliver.”~Echo 419

[@JVarley9001]

40k loves using that last variant of "transport chassis modified to replace its troop capacity with more guns." A solid chunk of the tank-like vehicles are the same chassis as a transport from the same faction.

[@PupOrionSirius26]

One of the earliest uses of Dropships literally created the term in Battletech.

[@77professional]

Spacedock is confusing drop ships with tactical transports. If you want a setting that provides great examples of the actual drop ship concept I would recommend Battletech.

[@Bobdd0]

How would you separate the two? Lots of these settings call vehicles dropships that are way smaller than BT's

[@CptJistuce]

Battletech's dropships are almost more akin to cargo planes.

[@77professional]

@@CptJistuce Only the Aerodyne classification of dropships.

[@CptJistuce]

@@77professional I meant in that they deliver multiple large vehicles to a battle theater, not that they have wings.

[@77professional]

@@CptJistuce True

[@nathanjangs]

6:39 I can agree that Acclimator are a large scale landing craft, as it's role is more closely related to LST, Land Ship Transport, where both can ferry troops and armor, while both are well armed for its defense.

[@filanfyretracker]

1:32 the primary means of defense for the Tenno landing craft is basically the void cloak. And maybe uniquely have the ability to insert their payload into enemy starships without setting off any alarms about the hull being damaged.

[@astrologiical]

i remember playing starcraft and hearing the dropship voicelines and being like, "wait, thats the same line from aliens"

[@jalakor]

Need Battletech to get some love! The DropShips make a huge part of how that universe works.

[@fredlandry6170]

I love the Dropshops in Battletech.

[@tyrreloneal5178]

I LOVE seeing dropships in sci fi! My question as an amateur sci fi writer writing his own stories is how do you make dropships work in a post-scarcity, Solarpunk-esque setting?

[@xyztogrutamamenchi7894]

And you could supplement your human soldiers with robots and drones, possibly dropping them from racks.

[@grenadedFalafel]

Very well done video. I didn’t think I’d be so interested in a science fiction vehicle concept deep dive, but I did enjoy it! Great job

[@stamfordly6463]

You missed out the containerised dropships in Space: Above and Beyond which were one of the more well thought out designs.

[@inductivegrunt94]

Halo's Pelican will always be my favorite dropship. Infantry, vehicles, both, in space and in atmosphere, armed to the teeth, it can do it all. It's such a cool dropship and I love it so much.

[@sidneysun5217]

battletech dropships are probably my fav designs

[@dennisw64]

One of the best stories featuring a dropship is "Lucky 13" from "Love, Death, and Robots".

[@lucaskobain]

Me, 10 y.o. watching the Cheyenne deploying her missile loaded wings "whooooaaaaa". Me, 39, watching the Cheyenne in a Spacedock YT video: "whooooaaaaa"

[@ralphsexton8531]

BattleTech is the opposite end of the spectrum, where the DropShip is basically the capital ship of its setting. Yes, I know, true Warships exist throughout the timeline, but they are rare or extinct at various points. Some DropShips are so huge, they can deploy battalion size forces of 100-ton BattleMechs, Tanks, Aerospace Fighters, whole infantry regiments, and more. Anything small enough to carry one vehicle or a small infantry unit classes as a Shuttle - which is similar to a DropShip in the way a dingy is similar to the Destroyer carrying it.

[@markmulder9845]

Me: The Pelican is always gonna be my favorite. Other: Halo or Helldivers? Me: Yes.

[@deusexaethera]

There is one big reason why you DON'T want a heavily armed dropship: Because you don't want the ship carrying your ground troops to become the primary target of an enemy who's trying to get you to stop bombarding them with heavy weapons fire. If a gunship gets shot down, you lose 1-2 soldiers; if a dropship gets shot down, you lose 20-30 soldiers.

[@rustyshackleford1508]

3:58 In regards to dropping off cargo modules, you'd be remiss to forget about the living dropships used by the Combine in HL2!

[@Generalphoenix8438]

I always love a dropship for a scifi army invasion. In a sci-fi series I'm writing were it focuses on a bounty hunter group who also do other jobs like smuggling have there own dropship that opens front and is from the earth military, they used them in the age of colonies to invade hostile planets and they repurposed it as a mobile base no bedding but let's them get there and back in gunfights. One epesode they rescue the main character and his let's say new friends who was going to be a forced bride for an imperial lord but he saved her and they end up working together. It's kid of like an action adventure romance with a 15 rating.

[@makky-kat3719]

I honestly did not expect Galactic Contention to make an appearance on this channel, but I'm glad it did. Also didn't realize the line "we're in the pipe, five by five," that I hear *all the time* in XCOM 2 was probably originally from Aliens. As far as orbital vs atmospheric, from The Clone Wars TV show both AT-TEs and at least some LAATs were pressurized and capable of flights from low orbit.

[@aunrah02]

Thank you for referencing Thunderbird 2. My absolute favorite Sci-Fi carrier when i was a kid. (also, the flapjack from hypernaughts)

[@GlitchHound]

love dropships, this was an awesome breakdown. slightly surprised not to hear about any of the Battltech dropships... that scene from starship troopers tho...

[@Tallacus]

Btw, props to your editor for that perfect intro for this video, giving the Dropships the love they deserve

[@Shisanon]

Ever look at the Dropships from Battletech, might as well be a battleship by comparison to the ones you showed.

[@ThePanzer777]

With the badass Union and Overlord Classes, you can secure a pretty big beachhead. While with the glorious Leopard, you can drop a heavy strike team anywhere on a world and stay to support them if necessary... Battletech has the most violent and efficient heavy Dropship in a sci-fi setting. =)

[@draegonspawn5361]

​. I adore battletech and for the most part agree. But the most violent drop ship is easily the Ork Rok, in 40k. It's just a rock with guns on it, dropped from orbit. It only drops, no propulsion to get out. No safety features. Just crash landing and if you survive get to shooting.

[@dragonace119]

@@draegonspawn5361 Even more terrifying is the fact that during "The War of the Beast", a majority of all Roks during the wars for Armageddon had teleporters.

[@trowabarton4278]

Our DropShip peal out thunder, shrieking down through cloven skies As a planet’s grim de-fenders gather in a host to die Then open hatch! Forward men! Enemy in sight! They’re closing now, the battle’s joined All ‘Mechs prepare to fight!

[@DIREWOLFx75]

@@draegonspawn5361 "It's just a rock with guns on it, dropped from orbit. It only drops, no propulsion to get out. No safety features. Just crash landing and if you survive get to shooting." Dude, literally nothing i've seen in the 40k-verse would survive that. Seriously, just the final impact kinetic energy would cause a multi kiloton explosion. There are good reasons why it is difficult to safely move things between space and planetside. Even Starcraft Zerg can't do it with just uncontrollably dropping rocks, and they're about as far as you can get for "can survive anywhere and is silly levels durable". And they DO use "asteroid impact" as an orbital insertion technique.

[@vincediscombe7360]

Ground Control had a great idea for dropships. Essentially the entire bottom opens out, and a platform containing the squads lowers from within. They roll off the platform and the ship can just boost back up to orbit while the platform retracts and hull closes up post-launch

[@ludvink]

Oh I had forgotten about those! So many cool designs in that game

[@vincediscombe7360]

@@ludvink that game's such an undercelebrated gem. Somewhat ahead of its own time, I feel.

[@ludvink]

@@vincediscombe7360 totally agree. Ive been hoping that they would do some sort of remaster or that they would return to their root and start making rts again. World in conflict was awesome as well :)

[@templarw20]

Does this mean that, by the definition you had towards the end, that the Galactica itself is a dropship? Just kidding. I did love the Mandalorian s3 drop assault.

[@beavismount]

Spacedock, that was the best intro you've ever done! - That said, now I'm gonna watch the next nine minutes.

[@aldraone-mu5yg]

I used to play this game on PS2 game called Dropship: United Peace Force. I've been hooked ever since.

[@Talon1124]

I loved that game. The dropships doubling as the CAS after unloading was cool, but it was kinda goody that the Interceptor was also called a Dropship.

[@aldraone-mu5yg]

@Talon1124 Yeah, I think it could still pick stuff up though, IDK been a while, I could never get passed the cargo escort mission. The game was a head of its time in a way, there's alot of stuff like that on Steam today.

[@Talon1124]

@@aldraone-mu5yg Yeah, I think the bigger ones could drop off vehicles, but the 'Interceptor' could only drop off infantry or something like that? It's been a hot minute since then.

[@ciaranmcguinness8900]

My absolute favourite dropship is the Space Marine Thunderhawk from Warhammer 40k, it just looks so cool like a flying tank, I love how jagged and angular it is and I love that when it touches down it isn't a regular garrison of troops that come out rather the Space Marines themselves come thundering out of these things guns blazing, badass like everything 40k. The aesthetic of 40K Imperial vehicles also helps with that hybrid aesthetic of really out there Sci-Fi and WW1 & 2 many of the vehicles have

[@mahatmarandy5977]

I’m not sure if it counts as a dropship or not, but in the Babylon 5 episode “GROPOS” we see a couple shots of some spacecraft with the military contingent that arrives at the station. Among them are several which look very much like C5 Galaxy cargo/troop transport that the United States Air Force uses. they could be dropship because the earth alliance needed to move about 20,000 troops onto the ground in a very short period of time, and unless they’re using things like that, I really have no idea how they do it

[@prince-solomon]

The music we hear during most of the video is "The Reach" from the X4: Foundations video game, just FYI. The Republic Gunship from Star Wars will be my all time favorite gunship (unsurprisingly the Mi-24 is my favorite helicopter).

[@SuprSBG]

Oh it’s The Reach? I thought it was Grand Exchange

[@SuprSBG]

Never mind, just checked. Brain fart

[@Teizan0]

BattleTech has a fairly extreme stretch of the word "DropShip". It's not even the case that _all_ DropShips in the BattleTech 'verse can even land on a planet safely; the name focuses more on the fact that they "Drop away" from JumpShips, carrier vessels that makes BattleTech's vastly larger than typical FTL drives more practically usable.

[@corvididaecorax2991]

And then there are Battletech dropships, where the name comes from how they drop away from jump ships instead of how they drop to the planet, in contrast to shuttles that are carried inside a jump ship. And the term includes a lot of civilian ships.

[@Generalscorpio]

Around 2:30 you mentioned that the dropship's engines have to allow it to land and take off, I think the exception to this is Warhammer 40,000 drop pods, if memory serves there's a specific craft designed to collect these after they've been used, usually at the end of the battle or at least when the insertion point is safe enough for a bulky transport to operate.

[@S0mnambulist-667]

which actually makes a lot of sense. it depends on the setting but at least in large scale invasions, there is limited use for drop pods getting back on their own, because you only need that if you lose. So spending time and effort on making the pods able to come back could be better spent on just making sure you don't lose.

[@Talon1124]

Those are drop pods, they did a video on drop pods, dropships are different by definition.

[@gadzilla6664]

Unless you're a Heretic Astartes rolling in a Dreadclaw. They can drop you in and bring you back out.

[@CptJistuce]

One-way tickets have problems. But they work really well for 40k's setting. The rank-and-file troops are highly disposable, and the space marines are a superhuman force of nature. One doesn't need to come home if they don't win, the other doesn't need to worry about losing.

[@huntermad5668]

@@CptJistuce IG is almost never deployed in a drop pod. SM only deploy drop pods to secure a landing. Their preferred method is Thunderhawks.

[@lionljb]

I rly love the designs of both the Goblin and Crow dropships from Titanfall. Both have a chin turret to aid the troops deploying by fast-roping/zipline or a direct drop, have doors on the sides and a ramp at the rear, missle hardpoints which seem to be used for AAM's, the crow having a dorsal turret and the goblin forward facing miniguns for air- to aid A-A and has the ability to skip the atmospheric entry via jump drive. On top of that at least the Goblin can be stored in a rack which can be seen in one of the TF2 missions saving hangar space. just a very clean, compact and functional design

[@TheWarmachine375]

Dropships needed fighter escorts to protect them so that they can land the troops safely on the battlefield and evacuate them too as well.

[@kenfenske5002]

I like Spacedock's focus on worldbuilding for sci-fi. Gets my creative juices flowing.

[@throrthegreat6482]

Despite the LAAT’s name they are anything but low altitude craft though. In The Clone Wars show they regularly deploy from space as well.

[@MrDibara]

If anything, they should've been called MAAT: *Multi Altitude Assault Transport.*

[@chrislaf89]

Clearly, they consider low-orbit to be low altitude.

[@stephen1r2]

the weaponry of a LAAT is best used at Low Altitude I would imagine

[@CptJistuce]

Maybe they just mean it doesn't have atmosphere containment fields, so you can only open the doors at low altitudes. A transport for low-altitude assaults rather than an assault transport that travels at low altitudes.

[@Tigerpaw4000]

Excellent comments on the awesome UD-4 from Aliens - it really defined the concept of a dropship by showing off a dropship in action, and no doubt served as inspiration for many other fictional dropships as well. The Cheyenne not only looked awesome, but it looked like a believable vehicle which only complemented the rest of the Colonial Marines' arsenal. "We're on an express elevator to hell...going down!"

[@mclean0782]

i loved the drop ship in Space Above And Beyond with its drop out cargo/troop pod

[@seikatsuragi7237]

This is such a niche topic I love. Sci-Fi space ships are discussed a lot, but dropships and "helicopter" like ships are always my favorite.

[@CitizenRule2]

When the sky starts playing Ride of the Valkyries.

[@Xipheron]

I would beg/urge you to do a video addressing BattleTech's DropShips. I could think of nothing but the Union-class egg dropping off a lance when you mentioned dropships dropping off vehicles. They also double as combat-capable vehicles in space. Honestly, BattleTech's setting would be a fantastic addition to many of your topics due to the sheer thought and care they've put into their fictional tech.

[@awesomehpt8938]

Honestly it’s so annoying that it took them 3 games to start put some real firepower on the pelicans. It’s so wasteful to have a dropship without guns.

[@brutalchicken]

Valkyries in WH40K are a great example of dropships. They even have a gunship variant, the Vulture.

[@LordEonGil]

Space: Above and Beyond has a good mission-pod style dropship style vehicle with the ISSCV

[@oldegrunt]

Jerry Pournelle was writing about drop ships/shuttles in his mil sci fi series in the early 60s. He noted the necessities of bleeding off speed by various orbital maneuvers/advantages of large bodies of water for "skidding" in after such maneuvers and lateral takeoffs.

[@Aotearas]

I feel like there was a missed opportunity to differentiate drop pods, from drop ships and troop transports. Drop pods ought to be rather self-explanatory, it's a one way transport you literally drop onto your target to deliver it's load. A drop ship is what I'd consider something with the same basic principle of just getting something onto the ground as fast and securely as possible, but with the added function of getting off and up again under it's own power. Whereas troop transports is something that's designed to move troops from A to B, but not nearly as specialized for the task of getting things down as fast and securely as possible in exchange for the benefits of more hauling capacity, creature comforts for longer travels, etc.. Much of what was shown in the clips is what I'd call troop transports (or even just multi-purpose craft that happen to be able to hold more than just its crew, the new-BSG series Raptor for example has such low carry capacity for extra people that I'd hardly consider it a troop delivery platform at all).

[@A_Random_Trainer]

I have been waiting for this episode!!! I hope y'all create an essential guide book thing on the patreon, specifically for drop ships!!!

[@appo9357]

ODST/Helldiver: LOL, you need a ship. 😂

[@CptJistuce]

Drop pods are a classic too. But you still need a ship to evac.

[@blckwtr2880]

Because stealth was mentioned at the start: The Esperia Prowler dropship in Star Citizen is a pretty cool and alien example of a purely infantry focused stealthy small team infiltration type ship with side opening doors and bird like wings that fold down when landing to create side cover for the dismounts