I had a few questions about the vanilla drop modules outlined on pages 25-26 of Siren’s Call.

1) With regard to choosing a landing site, does the module have a dedicated flight computer complimented by a sensor suite including radar and maybe ladar? Or perhaps remote landings depend on sensor feed and telemetry from the colony ship? If the latter, does each module maintain a remote connection to the colony ship’s mainframe?

2) How does such a massive object slow descent and safely land in such high gravity? It seems impossible to accomplish with parachutes and drag chutes alone, so the modules must have descent thrusters, right? What sort of fuel do they burn?

3) Each module has “independent life support” (26) and “battery power capable of operating for a year” (26). The Starting Values sidebar on page 48 suggests each module possesses enough power for half a year (based on the Energy value for of 5, for a starting colony of 10 drop ships). That said, the players’ six drop modules upon landing are noted to have “only a day or so until the air supply runs out” (149) and merely “several days of battery life left” (149). Even if the preceding is owing to uniformly catastrophic damage to all six drop modules, how long should battery power last, all things being equal?

Thanks,

David

Hello David,

My assumptions when I ran the campaign were:

1) A drop module has little ability to independently maneuver, especially when in atmosphere. They might pack a little bit of delta V for some corrections before they enter the gravity well, but mostly they're designed so that the colony ship points them at the chosen landing site.

2) I assumed that parachutes and drag chutes did most of the work slowing down the drop modules once they entered the gravity well. Sure, Siren has 1.3G, but is also has a thicker atmosphere, which would result in more drag than otherwise.

3) The drop modules probably have a very basic sensor suite, but mostly they rely on their connection to the colony ship for sensor data.

4) The Energy 5 that all colonies start with (noted on page 48) represents excess energy that might be used to research advancements or construct facilities, rather than the bare minimum needed to power the drop modules.

6) The short times until the air, etc. runs out (noted on page 149) is due to massive damage from the poorly conceived landing. Personally, I would be generous and assume that the drop modules still have enough energy to minimally operate for up to a year, since it's not noted otherwise.

Hope that helps!
Thorin

Thanks for your thoughts on the drop modules, Thorin. By the way, I very much enjoyed Into the Flames; looking forward to more Siren material in the future!