When will the first drops of DROP be dropped?

How much DROP could a drop bear drop if a drop bear could drop DROP?

Cries "Havok" and releases the DROPs of war.


You shall soon see. It's a suprising amount really.

As I've told many a person, I don't know, and I don't wanna know.

Ah! It feels good to be back home again, brethren. And sisters. Or are our sisters brethren? I hate those difficult gender questions.

Do Drop Bears even have genders?

Hmm... I'm sure they do, otherwise those Sally Marsupial books wouldn't make any sense at all.

As an aside, I do still have my Drop Bear adventure notes around. If someone wants to provide maps, editing and art, we could probably wrap it up.

I've got a good chunk of the second part of the House de'Fortuna written as well. Maps though... not so much.

We need another roll call my brothers? Where are all the Drop Bears deployed?

I would tell you, but it is secret.

However, I am pleased to note that the Northern Hemisphere seems to be taking on a much more hospitable temperature. Our time draws nigh!

Of course that is not a part of the great plan. It's pure coincidence.

Yes and the stars are right!!! Tikili Li Tikili Li!!!

I think Drop Bears have one uncanny ability that benefits Runners in every way...

They're great baseballs.

Never has playing a Ganger impressed anyone so thoroughly. Luckily I blew money on Muscle Replacement 2, and Wired Reflexes 1. So the Drop Bear had the drop on the rest of the party, but my ganger had the leg up... And a Louisville slugger. The rest of the should be self explanatory. Home run is a good summary though.

Death to the INFIDEL. He blasphemes!!
Attack my brethren ATTACK!!!!!

Quick Soykaf, run under that tree over there where you'll be safe. I'll cover you!

All our enemies should take cover under trees.

And Soykaf, lather on some of this eucalyptus scented lotion, it'll help disguise you, honest!

"We will fight in the shade", yes? What a good idea, yes? No reason to tire yourselves out.

...letsee now...

By league rules, that's at least a 75 game suspension, 1,000,000 fine, Manditory random drug testing, cancellation of all endorsement contracts, and one year community service tending eucalyptus trees, all of course with no right to an appeal.

Fitting punishment for impersonating a baseball.

...mumble grumble...

...now where's that drum of eucalyptus syrup splash grenades for my Enfield GL-67, I know it's here somewheres...

That is an awesome idea, and I am so stealing it for the next run I have in a zoo. For that matter, could be a good weapon in the Drop Bear adventure...

So who else has thought of filling the multi launcher equipped blimp drone in Arsenal with animatronic Drop Bears?

(I tried but the GM refused....)

And I was just going to take him to batting practice.

Please contact our R&D-Deparment. They're always eager to talk about new ideas. And always need test persons.

I've had a chance to apply the HALD (High Altitude Long Drop) technique in the field - troops were dropped from an extremely high range (above 10km) drone onto a target far below. Targeting was achieved by a radio beacon being transported by fleshy humans unaware of the impending attack. The high altitude, light construction of the drone allowed it to patrol a very large area relatively unseen (outside of the range of almost any ground-based sensors) and quick response to the beacon. The low signature of the bears made them largely immune to sensor-based attacks, their fast rate of motion made standard weapons largely useless, and their unusual vector of attack and fast motion greatly reduced the effectiveness of magical attacks. They were able to easily detect and attack most living combatants, although had little interest in drones. Generally, given their terminal velocity, one hit was sufficient to eliminate a threat, however they fared poorly against hardened vehicle armor. All ground forces were quickly eliminated, but those forces in vehicles, especially a military-grade thunderbird, were able to escape largely unscathed.

Lessons learned - R&D may want to augment this form of attack with some sort of penetrator. Additionally, some troops showed signs of disorientation, shortness of breath and nausea, indicative of altitude sickness. HALD drops should equip troops with a separate source of air that does not hinder the soldier's ability to bite through steel helmets. This may also reduce the effectiveness of gas-based attacks.

Honorable Nezumi... If I may... perhaps you could dikote the troops. This would signifcantly increase their anti-armor capabilities yes?

Must make note to add the emotitoy softs.

Hmm... A good thought. And it would eliminate the concern about gas attacks. I will get a group of our drop bear volunteers to test out this new technology.

What so they can judge your FEAR?

...what about dikoted tungsten spikes on the tops of the helmets? Y'know, kind like those old German Army dress helmets but updated a bit. That way the Drop Bears themselves do not need to be subjected to the extreme heat of the plasma torch used in the Dikote bonding process.

Kind of turns them into Mini Thor Shots with teeth.

Aeon Labs
It's Not Magic, Just Superior Technology

My concern is putting a heavy weight on their head would interfere with their ability to guide themselves while falling, therefore negating the 'smart bomb' capabilities (not to mention prevent them from hitting teeth first and immediately latching on to their victims). A belly spike might be more effective, but then I worry the force of the impact would drive the back of the spike into the bear in question, killing him as well as his target.

I'm fairly certain we could give the troops fins that they could use to guide themselves. I think that if we only "up armor" on in every 3 bears we should be able to reduce the effectiveness of armor whilst still terrorizing dismounted infantry.

I second the opinion that a belly flopping spiked bear might not enjoy the initial impact.

But if they are dikoted and have spikes, they won't be cute and cuddly

...not to Worry Blade, I was only concerned with Dikoting the tungsten spikes and helmets for vehicular armour breaching purposes. The Cute & Cuddly factor is still of paramount importance.

Doc, the Idea of guiding fins is excellent solution to the manoeuvrability problem. We at Aeon Labs were thinking along the same lines too about speiclised units designed to deal with armoured vehicles. Once inside they could switch to traditional teeth mode.

Agreed too, The Belly-flop configuration is a bad idea.

Aeon Labs
It's Not Magic, Just Superior Technology

Why not dikote the teeth directly?

...the temperature of the Dikote bonding process is too high for organic matter. Also not sure they'd appreciate doing a faceplant into a Banshee or Stoneawall without massively augmenting the facial bone structure. What we need is a cost effective means of dealing with vehicular armour that has the lowest impact on normal Drop Bear operational parameters.

Aeon Labs
It's Not Magic, Just Superior Technology

Perhaps... Bigger drop bears? Like a drop panda or a drop grizzly? That's gotta be worth something.

...but those are not true Drop Bears, just regular bears that would be dropped. True, their mass may be sufficient to damage vehicles but you could also achieve the same result employing Tungsten jacketed bovines dropped from LEO while incurring a much lower risk of injury or death to the drop technicians. We have achieved remarkable success and precision with the LG-FTJ-OBB system at a substantial savings over the standard Thor Shot.

Being domesticated, Bovines also do not present the inherent logistical issues of maintaining a steady a supply of projectiles as a feral species does.

Employing a coordinated precision strategy, Drop Bear units would follow on the heels of the bombardment entering the vehicles through hull breaches created by the tungsten sheathed bovines ready to shred and rend any surviving crew members. Studies have also indicated that precision bovine bombardment can impart a shock value that can easily be exploited by the drop troops.

Aeon Labs
It's Not Magic, Just Superior Technology

My initial thoughts was through careful breeding and pharmaceutical use (plus perhaps select bioware) creating a breed of giant drop bear, however your thought does have merit. It would cost a good deal less, be far more amusing, and would provide emergency food for the troops. The primary drawbacks I see are firstly, that they will be less accurate than a self-guiding drop bear, however that is somewhat mitigated by the fact they are made for hitting vehicles, which would provide larger targets to hit, and secondly, that the increased weight would require larger craft to carry it, and therefore compromise the stealth of the light-weight drone ships I originally employed.

...this is why the Bovine bombardment is done from LEO platforms precisely timed with the Drop Attack. The Rain of Udder Destruction (as it is colloquially referred to here at the labs) can also serve to distract the targeted ground units attention from the stealth Drop Bear ships.

I fear that using satellites in LEO would be too high for accurate use. One might be able to hit a building, but a vehicle? A t-bird would be too small of a target for such an attack.

...ahh, not necessarily. The Bombardment system employs precision Laser Guided bovines (hence the LG designation in the acronym). While test results and full technical details are classified, keep in mind that Orbital Bovine Bombardment has been successfully employed by various interests to eliminate unwanted or troublesome individuals. If he standard LG-OBB system can target a metahuman, and deliver its bovine payload with pinpoint accuracy, the LG-FTJ-OBB system is most certainly up to the task of dealing with an enemy LAV or tank.

Aeon Labs
It's Not Magic, Just Superior Technology

Hmm... I'm wondering if perhaps I do not have the classification to test such systems. My experiments thus far have been limited to the breathable atmosphere, by the great and all-knowing but mysterious council. I commend you in your current work and look forward to more synergy in the future from this line of thought. It is certainly promising, but outside of my field, I fear.

...thank you. Myself and the others at Aeon Labs investigate every possible angle of a given problem. We spend a good deal of time in Virtual modelling of system operations for any given circumstance that may arise. We then perform exhaustive and demanding tests of the hardware pushing it beyond far normal operational parameters to insure it is effective, reliable, and capable of handling adverse situations should they arise.

Aeon Labs has teams of expert advisors who can assist in coordinating our systems with any logistical or tactical operation. A proving demonstration could be easily arranged at one of our remote test facilities. Furthermore, Aeon's founder herself has a keen interest in seeing the Drop Bear campaign succeed.

Aeon Labs
It's Not Magic, Just Superior Technology

Hm... yes I have heard of the Reign of Udder Destruction (RUD) project.

Perhaps we could develop the drop panda further. I have specs here for a program whereby we force grow Ailuropoda melanoleuca using standard biodrone protocols and allow them to be "rigged' by drop bear operators. The saddle we've developed will tap into the drop bears natural malevolence. Once the panda has breached the amor in question the traditional drops bears can discard this unit and charge inside.

Your suggestions are bordering on heresy.

...Moi? Doc's?

What do you think?

...profuse apologies if it was us at Aeon. Just looking to assist in any way we can with the good fight. Noticed that breaching vehicular armour seemed a bit of an issue and thought we might have a simple solution. No disrespect intended.

The Inquisition does have a close look to to your work, but so far everything's fine. Thinking about adding the holy Drop to other species then the Drop Bear on the other hand....