I had a thought while dropping some air marines on a large enemy ship. Typically when folks jump from an object high in the sky, they like to have some sort of insurance that will help them survive that drop. I thought to myself, "why not parachutes?" I figure they'd be useful as a way to make sure your air marines make it to their target.
More technically, I figure a parachute could up the cost of the Air Marines by a bit (Or maybe not, maybe just have a choice to use them, or maybe a special Heraldry thing, who knows?) so they could slowly descend on their target. Normally our valiant Air Marines will leap from your ship to theirs, occasionally with (Severe) casualties and as a way to circumvent this you could give our lads parachutes. It would mean that they would fall slowly and thus be vulnerable to enemy Anti-Air fire, but elsewise they would be able to survive the fall without splatting into a pile of gore, much like this poor guy:
Or make parachutists their own kind of unit, leading to having their own "Upgraded group" much like the Air Grenadiers are upgrades to our Air Marines, you could have an Elite parachutist unit that opens their 'chutes last minute allowing them to fall quickly to avoid Ack-Ack fire then deploy their parachute to maneuver at the last moment to chase down another ship (I figure regular Para's would glide slowly down after the target they've been told to board, where as the elites would fall quickly, then last minute make the needed flight changes to catch their target.)
You could add a module, a parashoot bay or parashoot storage, the air marines would go there to grab a parashoot before leaving the ship, so first come first serve I would guess?
So, more people would want a bay/storage area for 'chutes? I can see the appeal behind that, however like I said, I like the idea of the Paratroopers being a separate unit.
Logic behind it being:
Air Marines need to be very close to jump to the enemies, the Air Grenadiers need a medium distance to swing and paratroopers could be even further and float
So, we'd have three "tiers" cheap, plentiful, and very mortal Air Marines, more expensive, rarer, tougher Grenadiers, and expensive, rare, Elite Paratroops. I think this would give the most options for us to play around with. That said, I in no way hate the Parachute bay idea. That would mean you could equip massive numbers of AM's with chutes, or AG's with chutes as well
I think the Air Grenades should be the most elite unit. They have grappling hooks! Anyone can pull a chute, but it takes training to use a grappling hook.
Besides that, Air Parachutists would have to still be over the target to jump on. And they would be slower, giving the enemy ship time to move away. They would survive the jump, but they would miss the ship.
Able Airman
I had a thought while dropping some air marines on a large enemy ship. Typically when folks jump from an object high in the sky, they like to have some sort of insurance that will help them survive that drop. I thought to myself, "why not parachutes?" I figure they'd be useful as a way to make sure your air marines make it to their target.
More technically, I figure a parachute could up the cost of the Air Marines by a bit (Or maybe not, maybe just have a choice to use them, or maybe a special Heraldry thing, who knows?) so they could slowly descend on their target. Normally our valiant Air Marines will leap from your ship to theirs, occasionally with (Severe) casualties and as a way to circumvent this you could give our lads parachutes. It would mean that they would fall slowly and thus be vulnerable to enemy Anti-Air fire, but elsewise they would be able to survive the fall without splatting into a pile of gore, much like this poor guy:
Or make parachutists their own kind of unit, leading to having their own "Upgraded group" much like the Air Grenadiers are upgrades to our Air Marines, you could have an Elite parachutist unit that opens their 'chutes last minute allowing them to fall quickly to avoid Ack-Ack fire then deploy their parachute to maneuver at the last moment to chase down another ship (I figure regular Para's would glide slowly down after the target they've been told to board, where as the elites would fall quickly, then last minute make the needed flight changes to catch their target.)
So, what say you all?
Aerial Emperor
Yeah, parachutes really make a lot of sense, and the main question is how to slot them in - who has them, basically. I shall mull this. :)
Warrant Officer
You could add a module, a parashoot bay or parashoot storage, the air marines would go there to grab a parashoot before leaving the ship, so first come first serve I would guess?
Commander, Engineering Corps
I like this idea, particularly the parachutes storage :D
Able Airman
So, more people would want a bay/storage area for 'chutes? I can see the appeal behind that, however like I said, I like the idea of the Paratroopers being a separate unit.
Logic behind it being: Air Marines need to be very close to jump to the enemies, the Air Grenadiers need a medium distance to swing and paratroopers could be even further and float
So, we'd have three "tiers" cheap, plentiful, and very mortal Air Marines, more expensive, rarer, tougher Grenadiers, and expensive, rare, Elite Paratroops. I think this would give the most options for us to play around with. That said, I in no way hate the Parachute bay idea. That would mean you could equip massive numbers of AM's with chutes, or AG's with chutes as well
Commodore
I think the Air Grenades should be the most elite unit. They have grappling hooks! Anyone can pull a chute, but it takes training to use a grappling hook.
Besides that, Air Parachutists would have to still be over the target to jump on. And they would be slower, giving the enemy ship time to move away. They would survive the jump, but they would miss the ship.