Drop Troops Ability?

[jc173]

Has anyone else tested the Drop Troops ability? I've been playing around with it, but it doesn't seem to work. According to the abilities doc, val 1 should set how many troops can be dropped to attack a planet. But it doesn't affect anything. I created a Troop Bay sort of in the same style as the fighter bay. I set the normal cargo bay to have a val of 0 for how many troops they could drop. My assault ship should have been only able to drop 50 troops but it dropped all 200.

[Q]

Why do you want to limit the number of troops to be dropped on a planet??

[jc173]

I want to sort of differentiate between a cargo carrying ship and an assault ship. I was trying to come up with a troop launching component similar to a fighter bay. In my mind I think of a planetary assault as been carried out by drop ships or drop capsules or shuttles etc so I think it would be more realistic to somehow limit how many troops are dropped by tying it to a component. I suppose it could work as it is implemented now if the entire troop ship landed.

[Nitram Draw]

Also, for us forgetful types, you don't have to remember to load troops back on if they all don't drop.

[Suicide Junkie]

quote:

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I want to sort of differentiate between a cargo carrying ship and an assault ship.

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For me, a Cargo ship is all engines & cargo bays.
An assault ship, on the other hand, is max engines, minimum cargo, and all the rest is Ablative armor/shields V.

The key here is that the assault ship just needs to survive the trip down to the surface, and then run away.
The Cargo ships, have to be cheap & efficient.

I had a great assault ship design, and when I sent it to go capture a planet once, I made the mistake of not doing any recon & failed to send a fighter escort. The strategic battle ended up with a loss for me, since the planet harbored a pile of missile platforms .
But, the cargo ship was tough enough to drop the troops before being destroyed, and 3 months later, the planet was mine
Any normal cargo ship would have failed that mission.