OK, I think it is clear that WK thinks tank drop is important to the game concept. So it won't be eliminated or considerably hindered. But I think there is a way to keep it from being THE meta-game tactic under the new rules. Here it is:
Unloading a transported vehicle: A vehicle unloaded from a transport may only use a MOVE ORDER in the round that it is unloaded. The vehicle may use that move order to move or make a ranged attack. A ranged attack made by the transported vehicle using the move order in this way is subject to the same restrictions as a VTOL using the move and shoot rules.

Basically you can unload that tank and fire with it, but IT and some offensive SEs aren't going to work for you. So the DF Schmitt still has a high attack and big damage, but the IT and AP don't work. A mech with armor is still hurt, but probably not crippled and there's a better chance the tank might miss altogether.

Thoughts?

Well, first off, the game needs tank drops with the new rules, or else people will go haywire with 23D and support. It would just be sad.

Second, if you are going to try to "fix" the rule, make it simple. What you suggest would require a page worth of the FAQ. Just make it a -2 to attack due to the difficulty of getting off a transport while firing.

I think tank-drop is flawed in a time/space kind of way.

In one order, of one turn, a vehicle can drive some distance, unload or unhitch it's cargo and the transported can then move or shoot in a second order, of the same turn. In that same time period, a mech can only move OR shoot - not both. It takes two full turns (time and space, remember) for the mech to do both.

That is my problem with it. Mechs are supposed to be the baddest things on the battlefield. But in the current state they are twice as slow as a transport/tank combo and an order of magnitude slower than a VTOL.

ummm then when u do a tank drop, it defeats the purpose cuz u either:
move behind blocking
or
get shot to pieces.

unless u just stranded a tank drop out in the middle of nowhere...

@blackfusion: my intent is to provide a solution that works with existing mechanics. The move order firing has already been FAQed to death for VTOLs, requiring very little additional FAQtional literature for this application.

A DF Schmitt with 10 attack and IT is little deterred by a -2 to hit. Especially if the payoff is 5AP damage to a third or a half of your opponent's build total.

Despite being order intensive, tank-drop as it stands now is too cost efficient. The only other units that can attack from that far out are VTOLs who don't do nearly that much damage or mechs at charge and we've had long discussions about that problem elsewhere.

If tank-drop becomes a move order it still works, but doesn't rule the roost.

It's already fixed. It's now very order intensive, in comparison to the prior build/order ratio.

No one will use transports except to slingshot fast units to base something. Towed autocannons will be worthless

This is a solution I have come up, very simple and uses existing rules for clarifications.

any vehicles that is a passenger of a transport must be in base contact with transport as is concidered a captured unit. When the vehcile passenger disembarks, it is no longer a captrued unit and is freindly to the owner.

it allows for basing the towed unit, which makes Trank drop in its current form so powerful

but Artillery needs the biggest fix IMHO, along with making Mechs worth thier points on the battlefield

Obviously you haven't read the recently adopted rules. Artillery damage no longer stacks, so artillery is no longer all that powerful unless you play a lot of artillery with armour piercing or damage greater than 1. :p

Does everyone really think the new rules fix tank drop? If so, I'll let this drop.

I'm not sure. On one hand it takes 2/3 of your orders in the new standard game. On the other hand I've heard horror stories of a Tank Drop against a high defense mech followed by a charge from Arnis with the third order.

Well, as a DF player, I'm not abandoning tank-drop (I don't have a problem with it really) but I will see more table time with Tamara and my HQ unit.

We still have the same number of orders. The build to order ratio has been increased, but the "standard" game still has 3 orders per turn. Same as always.

Nah..

There is so many ways to kill the 23D guys it is not even funny. Big formations may be back. The big fellas will die quick against a formation of Po2, Reg2, or even srms. Artillery is still an option too.

Tank drops are just silly. Any fix needs to be simple. I have liked the rule that transports cannot move at all during loading an unloading. That makes the whole transport thing simpler. Dropped units can still come out guns bazing. You just eliminate the time warp effect.

Hey, thats not a problem in MK...
And I think this is one of the better fixes I have heard of, it seems realistic to that a tank trying to floor it of a drop ramp is going to be rattled, thus cousing it to be less accurate.

Ok everyone, I am going to ask this one simple question:

Has anyone done a reliable test of ANY of the proposals listed above?

I mean a 10-20 round battle, using the same armies and same players, half with the new rules, and half without?

If so, what were the results? If not, why are you trying to debate the validity of anything you BELIEVE, but cannot PROVE?


This is my new crusade - test, verify, or be quiet.