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Okay, this has bothered me for ages, and I would like to see if anyone else agrees.

Let's think about this for a second...we have a missile launcher that for all intents and purposes shows up like this:



And they come packing 6 of these along with an anti personnel version.

Why don't Storm Ravens and Vendettas have the payload of say...an F-18?



Just wondering if this bothers anyone else...

Could be lots of reasons...low wing loading capacity, not enough power to hold more ordnance aloft, etc, etc. There are several reasons that could come into play with this. Since most IG aircraft are inspired by WW1 and WW2 aircraft, it could also harken back to those days, when front line attack aircraft could only carry a couple bombs, or perhaps a dozen unguided rockets. Honestly, there are several reasons that could explain this.

That is a legitimate thought process; however, you would start to wonder why no use of main body hard points...

Then onto the consideration of the man portable systems of the missile launchers, how that much ordnance could be carried by 2 people (looking at I.G. here). The only thought would be a size decrease of the missiles but if that is the case why is there no translation onto the aircraft?

Even fuselage mounted weapons would effect wing loading...remember that all aircraft have a very delicate envelope of weight that they can carry and still fly. This is why most combat loads on aircraft are very mission-specific, with a small self-defense load out. Pictures like the one of the Hornet above do show the potential load, but loads like that sacrifice something, namely fuel, which in turn equals range. Typically, you'll see a hornet take off with two sidewinders, perhaps an AMRAAM or two, and a couple bombs or Mavericks for a typical attack configuration. For DCA (Defensive Counter-Air), replace the bombs and/Mavericks with four AMRAAMs. Just a lot that goes into play...

And don't forget that the Valkyrie and Storm Raven are essentially transports first, weapons later.

Now the Vulture Gunship can sport alot of missiles and bombs because its a dedicated gunship...

The number of bumps on the weapon rarely represent the number of shots a weapon can make.

Tau missile launcher Heavy 2 - has 3 bumps.
Tau smart missile system. Heavy 4 has 6 bumps.
Whirlwind has 4 bumps can fire 7 times per game.
Exorisist 1-6 missiles per firing, has 8 tubes, but could in theory have to fire 42 times per game.

just to name a few. It never makes sense.

Vehicle mounted gear aside, I think the general assumption is that additional ammo for something like a missile launcher is distributed amongst the squad, etc.

Yeah, its a gak reason but oh well...

Jayden63 wrote:The number of bumps on the weapon rarely represent the number of shots a weapon can make.

Tau missile launcher Heavy 2 - has 3 bumps.
Tau smart missile system. Heavy 4 has 6 bumps.
Whirlwind has 4 bumps can fire 7 times per game.
Exorisist 1-6 missiles per firing, has 8 tubes, but could in theory have to fire 42 times per game.

just to name a few. It never makes sense.

Rule of Cool most definiately.

Unholy_Martyr wrote:Okay, this has bothered me for ages, and I would like to see if anyone else agrees.

Let's think about this for a second...we have a missile launcher that for all intents and purposes shows up like this:



And they come packing 6 of these along with an anti personnel version.

Why don't Storm Ravens and Vendettas have the payload of say...an F-18?



Just wondering if this bothers anyone else...

Perhaps because if you would be serious you would know that its this:



Not so hard to think a Marine can carry 10 missles of that around.

Unholy_Martyr wrote:Why don't Storm Ravens and Vendettas have the payload of say...an F-18?.

Game Balance is the reason.

how many F-18s have orbital capabilities?

Also magical 40k-ness trumps all reality.