Add a weak cannon to the Charlie (and later dropships) for self defense

Hey, I was reading through some cool helicopter stuff, and I found this webpage:

http://www.soc.mil/160th/Chinook.html

It talks about the MH-47 Chinook, which is used for SpecOps missions and the like. It's got a simple cannon on it, and I was thinking that it'd be cool to have a simple cannon on the Charlie.

It wouldn't be as powerful as a regular autocannon, but it'd just be there. I think it'd be fun to try to take down a light scout with a trio of chinooks, personally.

Just make it so that it can only have the weaker cannon, maybe call it a light autocannon? Of course, it'd be upgraded with laser, plasma and mag, just for consistency (going up to light magstorm, or maybe miniMag haha). These weapons would unlock along with the regular autocannon replacements with no new researches being required, and would cost less than the regular interceptor autocannon would. It should only be available for use on dropships, and there should only be one weapon pod for that.

I don't think it would affect balance very much at all, since they're not designed for combat, and therefore it would make sense if they sucked at it (in fact I'd appreciate it). Even if it's not going to do much, I just want to be able to defend my dropships, even if it's ineffective. It'd just add another interesting tidbit to the game, allowing the chinook to actually defend itself a bit.

Thoughts?

i would rather have a gun on the dropships (charlie included) that would fire @ in comming missiles and a charlie has 2 machine guns in front vissualy but the have no use. also the charlie has 2 side entrances wich i believe holds a normal machine gun (in the real world)

Yeah, that's right, there are guns on the front of the picture.

Perhaps two guns then? Like, two weapon slots that accommodate light autocannons. I like that idea better, actually.

As far as missile defenses, perhaps the light autocannons could be used as missile defenses? Can autocannons target missiles? Since the larger UFOs can shoot down missiles, I'd assume they could be made that way. (I wouldn't want anything but forward firing guns, especially for missile defense, because otherwise there's not as much danger, as much risk, in using a troop carrier to defend itself instead of relying on condors or whatever).

This would actually give a great deal of legitimacy to the idea (in the sense that it's not just added fluff, but adds new options for gameplay), because the light autocannons would be facing forward, meaning that you'd have to either a) try to run from the missiles, b) take the hit and hope you don't explode, or c) turn and face the missiles and shoot them down. Option c) would add so much new danger, but with a reward, to the air combat with a Charlie.

As far as the window machine-guns go, those would complicate ground combat a bunch and change balance a whole lot, and I don't want this to be a huge deal of balance issues.

Basically, the charlie would still be a sitting duck in the air unsupported, but it'd be able to fend off a missile or two, and maybe even score a few hits if you're daring, should your squadron be engaged.

The Chinook is a bit of a sitting duck in terms of speed and maneuverability compared to the UFO.

I'm just trying to picture what an air interception mission would be like with a Chinook in it. Frustrating if it's just the Chinook, as the UFO flit around giving it little hope. With an escort, the Chinook would crawl across the screen compared with everything else. Again , it would be very vulnerable.

Yeah, I know. It's not intended to make it a combat-worthy craft at all. Just add a couple light autocannon slots on the aircraft management screen, and create weapons that are really weak to give it, and allow those weapons to shoot missiles coming in from the front of the chinook. This way in an air combat you can simple face the chinook towards the enemy, but make it go at barely a crawl. Any missiles directed towards it might be shot, helping it's survivability. I was thinking of how a tail gun would work for missile interception, but that'd be much more useful without any more risk factor. With a couple of light autocannons on the front, it'd have to be heading towards the enemy UFO to intercept any missiles.

Sounds like it would still have no chance at all but would just force the player to watch it get killed in a slow motion fight instead of it happening offscreen.

that's the way I'm seeing it too. At first I thought it was another thread to get them into the Battlescape. It does seem to be a slow death for it.

It's not designed to be actually effective, not at first. I dunno, maybe it's just me, but there are guns on the Chinook photos, and I think it'd be fun to actually arm it, albeit defensively. Besides, we could then have the ability to add more weapons with modding and stuff.

I just think it'd be fun. All it would really require is the addition of a light cannon class of weapon, and two slots on the chinook (and whatever else on other dropships) to put the light cannons in on the UI. Also on the air combat, come to think of it.

Looking further ahead, do the advanced dropships have any hardpoints? I've not peeked/ got quite that far. If so, is there possibly more use for this sort of thing in later craft?

In other words, is there a point in the game, where a slower moving dropship is part of a squadron at a time where advanced weaponry could be used ? So, it may be terribly slow moving, but as the OP says, may actually make a slight difference?

I also had an idea, which I have no idea if it would be possible, where a player can add basically sensor packages and external fuel tanks to an aircraft by using up hardpoints. Like, adding a sensor package to a MiG to give it a much larger radar range, making it more useful for finding alien bases, and adding an external fuel tank to give it more range. It would lose two of it's hardpoints (which now means it'd be defenseless) but I think that it could be cool. Probably only for heavy hardpoint equipped airframes, I'd think, although perhaps a smaller version of them could be used for light hardpoints. I think it could be cool. (But probably not even possible, code wise. I dunno, though.)

There was a huge thread somewhere where just that was discussed. Possibly this one starting here.

Thanks Thothkins, lovely reading there.

Be sure to check out my new suggestion, Support Packages.

Actually, looking at the image, that long nose boom isn't a cannon. It's the mating port for aerial refueling

That said, I would like the idea of adding, say, a 37mm or 50mm autocannon to the helicopter to at least defend itself from interception (very unlikely to be effective, but peace of mind is sometimes more important), and it can be added as an upgrade of sorts that, upon landing, could add another roll for casualties like when a ship crashes.

I wasn't talking about the photo from the website I posted, I was talking about the photos inside the Xenonauts game itself. I know that's a refueling port.

As far as it doing anything in relation to ground combat, I'm against that. It could be cool, but it would add more balance issues to the ground combat, and having the aliens killed off screen is annoying, imo.