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The Valkyrie Airborne Assault Carrier, to my knowledge, cannot leave a spaceship while in orbit and then enter the atmosphere of a planet. I recently bought IA13. and I want to do a small raiding force. My question is are there any books that have Valkyries immediately deployed during an invasion and what ships would they be held in while entering the atmosphere? I understand a cruiser/battleship could enter the atmosphere and deploy multiple squadrons of Valkyries but I wanted to read about it myself. I look forward to your responses.

They have independent O2 supplies and can seal the interior against hazardous environments, why would they not be able to make a sub-orbital drop?

I thought Valkyries could deploy from space...

I did a little bit more research. I don't have Imperial Armour 1 but apparently on page 243 it states that it isn't capable of operating in the vacuum of space. I looked it up on another forum and someone else also stated that it can be sealed off to hazardous environments. I don't know the absolute ceiling for the Valkyrie but I'm starting to think it can't deployed from sub-orbit.

Sub-orbital is not the vacuum of space... it would be the upper atmosphere of the planet.

Basically, load the ship up with whatever it needs to deliver to planet (troops, bombs, flaming death, whatever), and then launch it out of the side of a starship, either with its own engines or a catapult launch system.

Let gravity do the rest til you hit the atmosphere of the planet.

I understand that sub-orbital is not the vacuum of space. The operational ceiling for the Valkyrie is 8 miles though. I'm trying to wonder what effect that would have on a sub-orbital drop if any. If it has no effect then I would say you're right. I honestly don't know a great deal about this topic.

Basically, you shoot the Valk towards the planet like a dart. Then it flies in under its own power once its in the stratosphere of the planet.

It should also be noted that GW doesn't understand science very well, either. Having a flight ceiling of 8 miles doesn't mean anything, as planets will have different gravity, different atmospheric pressures and all that sort of thing. If the Valk can fly as high as 8 miles off the ground on Earth, can it fly 16 miles high on the airless Moon?

Errr, I think you have that a bit backwards Psi, if it can fly 8 miles up on earth, the more apt question would be can it fly 4 miles up on the moon? (really the number is arbitrary, but less atmospheric density = lower flight ceiling). The answer of course is no, because there isn't any atmosphere with which it can gain lift, nor is there anything for its air breathing engines to intake.

I understand that different planets will have different atmospheres, conditions, and other variables but I think earth is a good example for now. I can see what Psienesis is saying about the dart. Maybe I'm just overreading.

Which would make its flight ceiling dependent on the environment of the planet, which was my main point (and, yeah,I meant to divide by 2 not multiply by 2, but w/e, it's been that kind of day).

 Psienesis wrote:
Sub-orbital is not the vacuum of space... it would be the upper atmosphere of the planet.

A 'suborbital trajectory' usually means one where the highest part of the arc is in space and the lowest part is on the surface. A vehicle launched from a spaceship above the atmosphere on a trajectory to reach the ground would be suborbital. It's suborbital because it doesn't go all the way around the planet, not because it's any particular height. Launch a powerful rocket straight up and it will be in a suborbital trajectory (because it's eventually coming down again) but will get higher than objects in a low orbit.

 Psienesis wrote:
Basically, load the ship up with whatever it needs to deliver to planet (troops, bombs, flaming death, whatever), and then launch it out of the side of a starship, either with its own engines or a catapult launch system.

That only works if you have a pretty powerful catapult or engines which work in vacuum and have enough Delta-V to slow you down enough for a re-entry.

 Psienesis wrote:
Let gravity do the rest til you hit the atmosphere of the planet.

If you are in an orbit, gravity is already using all it's force to stop you flying off into space. You need to use thrust to slow down and drop your orbit. You can use the atmosphere to slow down more once you reach it, but you need to have enough juice to reach the atmosphere and the ability to survive hitting the atmosphere at orbital velocities. There are a lot of things which could go horribly wrong during re-entry in a craft not specifically designed to handle it.

The Astra Militarum use heavy - really heavy - dropships with company or even regimental capacity. You can see them in the background on the previous guard codex.

The escort-sized transports in BFG were capable of landing.

In the Sabbat Worlds Crusade book it mentions a specific class called a Tetrarch-class:

Note: in the Scions codex, it says that Valkyries must be specially modified to deploy from space (there's an example in the model pictures section). On one hand, it means you can't do it normally. On the other, it means it can be done if you figure out a reasonable fluff reason (such as the gratitude of a powerful Forge World).

Yay! Another reason to Forge A Narrative!

"Are these narratives forged?"

"No, sir, they're genuine, one hundred percent English storytelling."

"Are you certain?"

"Would I lie to you, sir?"

locarno24,Talon of Anathrax- Thank you. That is exactly what I was looking for.

That only works if you have a pretty powerful catapult or engines which work in vacuum and have enough Delta-V to slow you down enough for a re-entry.

And you somehow think the Imperium, which flies kilometers-long spaceships like it's no big deal, doesn't have the technology to build a catapult to hurl a Valkyrie?

Come on, this is the Imperium we're talking about. There are probably some ships that use hand-driven catapults to hurl nuclear munitions across the void of space in ship-to-ship combat.

 Psienesis wrote:

Come on, this is the Imperium we're talking about. There are probably some ships that use hand-driven catapults to hurl nuclear munitions across the void of space in ship-to-ship combat.

I'm tempted to make a signature. I'm glad I wasn't drinking anything when I read that.

 Talon of Anathrax wrote:
Note: in the Scions codex, it says that Valkyries must be specially modified to deploy from space (there's an example in the model pictures section). On one hand, it means you can't do it normally. On the other, it means it can be done if you figure out a reasonable fluff reason (such as the gratitude of a powerful Forge World).

Yay! Another reason to Forge A Narrative!

May I ask what page? I can't seem to find this in my copy

 firebat wrote:

 Talon of Anathrax wrote:
Note: in the Scions codex, it says that Valkyries must be specially modified to deploy from space (there's an example in the model pictures section). On one hand, it means you can't do it normally. On the other, it means it can be done if you figure out a reasonable fluff reason (such as the gratitude of a powerful Forge World).

Yay! Another reason to Forge A Narrative!

May I ask what page? I can't seem to find this in my copy

Page 35.

From the MT Codex, the quote in question I believe:

"The Void Hawk has been sanctioned for orbital operations - the seals, prayers and blessings of the Adeptus Mechanicus placed upon it so it might survive the rigours of space. The Psian Jakals use the Void Hawk for low-orbit insertions, free falling from it into the atmosphere."

I also remember the scene where the Scions invade to blow up the Ork cruiser had them deploying from Valks in orbit. Also I believe Warzone Pandorax had Valkyries off the immobilized Battleship deploying into the void (ora t least within proximity of the asteroid and battleship) to fight the Chaos boarding action. Given that they've moved from being just 'helicopter gunship and troop transport' analogues to full blown 'aerospace fighter craft' in 6th, its not terribly shocking. It actually even makes Navy ownership somewhat more sensible, since they're void and atmospheric craft (like all attack craft) rather than just atmosphere-only (After all the Navy gets to have its own infantry troopers and Stormtrooper-analogues, and can use dismounted guns as artillery.... so the IG could get at least some 'atmosphere only' craft however rare it is. Heck, the 1999 IG codex has 'aeronautical' formations listed (as well as cybernetika and mobile infantry. God knows what the last one actually is.)

And you can chalk it up to the utterly variable/inconsistent tech levels across the Imperium. Even with voidcraft, there can be tremendous variation.

 Psienesis wrote:
And you somehow think the Imperium, which flies kilometers-long spaceships like it's no big deal, doesn't have the technology to build a catapult to hurl a Valkyrie?

Come on, this is the Imperium we're talking about. There are probably some ships that use hand-driven catapults to hurl nuclear munitions across the void of space in ship-to-ship combat.

This is how the Lord Solar Macharius handled voidfighter/bomber launches from its decks. Take it however you will.

Execution Hour pages 99-100 wrote:...the Starhawk bomber as the first magno-clamps began to disengage, separating it from its launch cradle.
...
...the Starhawk suddenly dropped, released from the crane cradle that had lifted it up into the launch bay. For a few brief but truly sickening moments, the three hundred tonne bomber was in freefall and then its fall was abruptly halted, powerful suspensor fields catching it and holding it in place mid-air within the launch bay.

..
..powered up the bomber’s four wing-mounted engines, knowing that the slightest drop in the suspensor field’s integrity at this most crucial and dangerous part of the launch process would mean the bomber’s complete destruction. The engines were soon operating at near full power, but the bomber was stationary within the launch bay, held immobile in the invisible but inexorable grip of the suspensor fields as the laws of physics fought against the launch bay’s equally powerful inertial dampener fields.

Even then, remember most aeronautica (even the non-void capable stuff) are vector-thrust and don't really seem to need huge runways. That was a pretty big aspect of the old Forgeworld Aeronautica Imperialis as I remember, even to the point of how they displayed the models. And Valkyries are definitely vector-thrust.