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Grav Chute troops are still dropped by Valkierie. Its just done at a high altitude, which is still in AA range.

So Drop Pods fill the niche of dropping troops down into an area where an air drop is not an option, or you need boots on the ground NOW.


I believe its stated Marines can be on the ground within 20 minutes of achieving orbit over the drop zone.

I always imagined the drop pod rocketing to earth at mach 5, and the anti grav engine like the one they have in a Land speeder slowing the pod down with the retro rockets at a 100 meters. The doors slowly opening & the marines pooring out small arms fire with the on board storm bolter roaring before it hits the ground. Eight pods of marines with 2 or 3 deathwind pods laying down an absoluty withering fire before the enemy knows what's going on. All of this after the astartes cruiser or battle barge lays down the most powerful & specialized orbital bombardments in the galaxy. After the pods land the thunderhawks and stormravens wil drop assault squads from low orbit & stay on station to provide close air support like a spectre gunship. That's a whole company dropping in, minus HQ. Throw them in with teleporting termies & the infiltrating, cloaked scouts who put the beacons down...

...welll...ambush THAT!

Thats pretty much what happens.

The enemy sees contrails in the sky and suddenly a dozen meteor impacts in close proximity. Sonic boom and a split second after that bolter fire.

 RedAngel wrote:
I always imagined the drop pod rocketing to earth at mach 5, and the anti grav engine like the one they have in a Land speeder slowing the pod down with the retro rockets at a 100 meters. The doors slowly opening & the marines pooring out small arms fire with the on board storm bolter roaring before it hits the ground. Eight pods of marines with 2 or 3 deathwind pods laying down an absoluty withering fire before the enemy knows what's going on. All of this after the astartes cruiser or battle barge lays down the most powerful & specialized orbital bombardments in the galaxy. After the pods land the thunderhawks and stormravens wil drop assault squads from low orbit & stay on station to provide close air support like a spectre gunship. That's a whole company dropping in, minus HQ. Throw them in with teleporting termies & the infiltrating, cloaked scouts who put the beacons down...

...welll...ambush THAT!

Land mines.

Well, first the only time I've ever heard of a single pod being dropped with marines inside was during the Taros campaign IA book. A single pod of scouts was dropped to scope out the AO and provide intel back to the fleet.

Otherwise, the way I have always perceived a SM drop was by waves. I'll try to lay this out as clearly as I can. My information may be faulty, if that is the case by all means point out where the errors are:

Wave 1: Scouts and/or Deathwind pods. This wave is for information gathering or creating the initial beachhead for further waves. If Wave 1 is launched by Deathwind, wave 2 would follow literally seconds behind. If Wave 1 is scouts, the subsequent launches would be determined by the Captain or Vet Sgt of the Scouts.

Wave 2: Bodies! Lots of falling bodies! This is what has been widely accepted as the greatest strength of the Space Marines. They are able to concentrate their firepower in ways very few factions in 40k can. This wave would be focused on capturing vital points, destroying key structures, and generally making their way towards the objective.

Wave 3: This would be the support/reinforcement element of the drop. This would be where the dreads would most likely be dropped, and within the time frame the deep striking Assault Marines would be landing in.

Wave 4/5: At this point, you've committed several men to the engagement. This could lead to the landing of various armor via Thunderhawk Transporter or the larger variant. Wave 5 could also be the extraction. Where Thunderhawks strafe in suppressing any enemy survivors and allowing the Marines to make a swift escape.

Hope this is still on topic and relevant!

Don't forget that any wave can carry teleport homers, allowing Terminators to join the battle exactly on target.

One of the things that kind of bugs me about pods, It's really not all that hard to make them safer. You could start by leaving a door closed to allow some cover, or some smoke could provide concealment.

nomotog wrote:

Land mines.

Standing on Land mines to bait the Marines to drop-pod into them???

nomotog wrote:One of the things that kind of bugs me about pods, It's really not all that hard to make them safer. You could start by leaving a door closed to allow some cover, or some smoke lunches could provide concealment.

Smoke lunches are to distract Tyranids, right?

But as stated a few times in this thread, deepstriking droppods are too fast to be caught, their job to deliver the SM right onto the enemy. In Angel of Fire for example, an enemy assault on an Imperial position is broken because the Marines come in, rampage across the enemy advance and the stunned rebels are crushed beneath the IG reserves who take over after the SM move on.

Droppods are tested systems, used for 10 millenia and thus safe enough.

I think you're missing the point of drop pods entirely. They're not designed to be a leisurely transport to get you into position some time. They're to get you to a specific point now.

They don't plop down out of the action, they go to a point where the marines can do their job and then maybe get extracted if they succeed. There is no retreat, there is do or die, but hey they're marines.

Secondly...

Ambushing a drop pod is very possible. The Alpha Legion leeps to mind. As masters of lies, disembling and misdirection there the very antagonist to accomplish it. There's also the psychic witchcraft of the eldar & the advanced technology combined with the sheer cunning of their darker kin.

Having said that it would be a rare occurance. It would take quite a bit of work to set that trap too. Were it to be pulled off you'd have the tiger by the tail. One hundred or so adeptus astartes are now right in your face firing away. Likely minutes from assault squad reinforcements, orbital bombardment support or a thunderhawk/stormraven strike.

Most likely an ambush would fail or both forces would destroy each other. The best bet would be to bait them into a juicy target & then detonate a bunch of melta charge or a small nuke when they landed. Depending on a infantry/armor force to pull off the ambush would likely fail.

Tis is covered in the Taros Campaign too, The drop-pod assault is immedialy preceded by a drop pod assault, only they're these.



They timed it so just as the Dethwinds run out of rockets/assault cannon shells the actual Troops slam down.

And if you're using a drop pod you're expecting to be killing people the second that door opens

nomotog wrote:
One of the things that kind of bugs me about pods, It's really not all that hard to make them safer. You could start by leaving a door closed to allow some cover, or some smoke lunches could provide concealment.

Cover from what? Marines are already (effectively) impervious to small arms fire, and dedicated heavy weaponry would punch straight through a drop pod door as well.

You've got to remember, 40K is set in an era where armour technology has outstripped weapons technology. For the most part, Marines don't care if they're under fire. They don't want to take cover and return fire. They don't want a prolonged firefight. They want to run straight at you and engage in close combat. And for the most part, they can.

nomotog wrote:

Land mines.

While I cannot recall if this is specifically stated in any material, I would assume that, if they can scan buildings to discover structural weaknesses, then PA auto-senses would be good enough to pick up on landmines.

Unless you knew where the pod would drop, an ambush would be hard. and Space Marines don't care if they get ambushed, being outgunned and outnumbered is their thing.

I'm pretty sure it's already been decided, but just to contribute to the majority, I think an ambush on drop pods would be nigh impossible. Space Marines plan where they're going to land, typically amidst the foe, not in some forlorn location, ready to be ambushed. To top that, they move with the force of an artillery shell. Again, damned difficult to ambush let alone stop.