Quantradyne APOD-33 dropship


 * For the StarCraft II multiplayer unit, see medivac dropship. For other meanings of the term, see Dropship (disambiguation)

"The Quantradyne APOD-33 was the Confederacy's proof to the stars that anything with a big enough engine would fly -- no matter how badly."

- Ardo Melnikov

The Quantradyne APOD-33 dropship is a terran aerospace transport.

Overview
Originally designed by the Terran Confederacy, the Quantradyne APOD-33 dropship is a heavily armored tactical transport equipped for both atmospheric and deep space flight.

Early experiments to arm dropships (including ordnance packages for an air-to-ground role) were abandoned in favor of maximizing payload capacity. By 2480, the modern dropship was in use.

The Colonial Fleet was known for maintaining high standards for its dropship pilots, the PEB (Preferred Experience Base) requiring an applicant to possess a combat pilot certification and hot-zone certification before being allowed access to a dropship. Such pilots can operate alone, although a nav/comm. console is set behind the pilot's seat.

Dropships are designed to carry anything from troops to siege tanks in both safety and speed. Landings are usually carried out conventionally, the dropship's single aft ramp and twin plasma engines allowing easy deployment, the engines shift their angles to allow this. However, soldiers can also rappel down using ropes.

APOD-33 dropships are equipped with extraction fields and maglev lines in case the terrain is too difficult to land on.

Despite these abilities, dropships possess a number of shortcomings. They are difficult to maneuver and are prone to mechanical failures and aren't exactly the most comfortable transport craft, the interior's temperatures usually uncomfortably hot, even more so during re-entry. Cooling units are installed to offset this along with air scrubbers. Restraining bars are present for the transport of passengers and overhead racks for the transport of equipment and/or belongings. The dropship's power bus is also compatible with the CMC-300 combat suit. A user can 'jack in' to the power bus and view the dropship's surroundings via a sensor system, the image being transferred to the suit's HUD. Ammunition packs and stimulant dispensers are also featured.

Dropships are frequently attatched to capital ships such as troopships and battlecruisers.

StarCraft
Dropships are too slow to outrun aerial hunters like mutalisks, Scouts, and Wraiths. If destroyed any units being carried are lost as well. While it has 8 slots like the shuttle and evolved overlord, the power of StimPacked infantry means a dropship can carry substantial firepower. Compared to its zerg and protoss counterparts (overlord and shuttle), the dropship has a faster speed than the overlord despite having a poor acceleration and is less fragile than the shuttle but slower.

A fleet of dropships is often used to offload units directly on top of or near an enemy base. These "drops" are a key strategy for many terran players.

Quotations

 * See: StarCraft I Dropship Quotations

StarCraft: Ghost


StarCraft: Ghost concept art depicts "assault dropships". The terrans also used the Grizzly as an (armed) transport.

StarCraft II


The dropship used to be very similar to the StarCraft I version. It has been given a healing ability, transforming it into the medivac dropship; thus, the dropship can no longer be built in StarCraft II.

The dropship touched down to unload units, behavior that was previously seen in the original StarCraft alpha, but not the final edition.

There is a one second delay between every dropped unit.

Blizzard was toying with the possibility of returning the dropship and making the medivac dropship an available upgrade in June 2008.

Another dropship to feature within the game is the Hercules dropship, which is used to transport thors.

Known Dropships

 * Daddy's Girl
 * Fat Girl
 * Sleepwalker
 * Sweetie Pie
 * Valkyrie Vixen

Known Dropship Pilots

 * Captain Julian Byrne
 * Captain Tegis Marz
 * Captain Morrow
 * Graham O'Brien
 * Black Morgan

Trivia
The dropship's design, pilot personality, and unit quotations are heavily modelled or borrowed from the one found in movie Aliens.