PPT Lulakocr

Orbital-Drop Ship Medium Transport

The PPT Lulakocr (Luh-la-kor) Orbital-Drop Ship Medium Transport is the
PPT Planetary Force's main craft for rapid delivery of troops to the
battlefield. Conventional tactics of most advanced space-warring races
include the use of a few expensive one-time use drop pods that carry
only a single soldier at a time, and then dropping off the bulk of the
troops at a secured (hopefully) landing zone and having them move to the
 front. This is a process that involves quite a bit of time and
resources. The Lulakocr instead has a single large drop pod capable of
dropping all of it's passengers and their equipment off on a planet.
More soldiers are delivered faster to the battlefield, the pod is
reusable, and the ship has little to fear from being attacked while
trying to slowly navigate it's way down to the surface, land, download
troops, prepare for and take off again, and try and regain orbit again.
The only downside is that the pods, due to their size, are more limited
on where they can be dropped. Most often they are dropped in the water
near a shore, and then pod is propelled to the beach and the ramps
dropped. Barring a suitable body of water, large flat area of ground is
preferred. Uneven or unstable terrain (aka, swamps, bogs, mountains,
soft mud, canyons, cities, etcetera) often means that the ramps are at
the wrong height (pod sunk too low or it's hanging over the edge of a
cliff or it's blocked by the only skyscraper that didn't get knocked
over), which causes problems for the troops trying to exit. The pod
carries much more than simply troops, tanks, artillery, engineering
equipment, and close air support all stream out of the armored pod upon
arrival, everything the unit needs to wage war on the front it just
opened up. The pods typically carry a Battalion's worth of troops and
equipment, including resources necessary to support them for a time.
Thus a single pod can effectively open up a new mini-front, which
the Atnlays are fond of doing. Rather than have a single front, or even a
 few single fronts, they will create pockets of their troops all over
the place, leaving the enemy scrambling to mop them all up rather than
concentrate all their firepower and logistics on one broad area. Given
the Atnlays superior firepower and ability to resupply their troops
pretty much whenever, they have little to fear of their much smaller
units being overwhelmed by a much larger one.

On the wings are two drop-pod launchers each, for firing your typical
single soldier drop pods. These rocket ahead of the pod and secure the
landing zone for it, especially if the LZ is especially hot or, in the
case of your typical water landing, the Army prefers to secure the
beachhead first. Otherwise they may simply wish to destroy some target
just prior to the pod landing that may or may not threaten it, or engage
 the enemy and cause confusion just before the pod's arrival, which
always makes things easier...for the Atnlays. Located on the bottom of
the main section of the ship are eight orbital bombardment weapon
platforms, used for softening up an LZ and guiding the pod down with a
protective measure of fire to obliterate any defenses that may be in
place for shooting something such as this down. These platforms also
make the ship useful in support of the element's campaign farther on
down the road. But should something attempt to bring the pod down, it is
 well protected. A thick layer of armor and internal shield generators guarantee it's survival down, and stealth measures make it difficult to identify and track.

The Lulakocr itself carries four beam turrets and two bolt turrets for
self defense, along with two TM missile tubes carrying the standard 8
missiles apiece. WORM generators,
 slipspace drives, and powerful sublight engines, along with your
typical impenetrable shielding and armor that come standard with the PPT
 are also included. Lulakocrs are typically used for delivery of troops
to battle rather than ferrying to and from stations, other ships, or
wherever, but if necessary can be used for such a purpose.