Grasshopers

Daimyo_Shi · 10-18-2021, 03:49 PM

Can I ask what people think of Grass hoppers?

Racer · 10-18-2021, 05:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Daimyo_Shi

Can I ask what people think of Grass hoppers?

Expensive & very limited utility . Good way to spice a Car v Car Road encounter , when one deploies it's Rotors unexpectedly . Really needs CA Frame & Aircraft Gas Engine to be effective in combatant . This further ramps up the price so they only get seen in Military Special Ops scenarios .

Medium VTOL Microplanes (or Large VTOL Microplanes with Gas Engines) do much better job of things , at lower costs & have higher speeds . And often more maneuverable too .

juris · 10-18-2021, 07:07 PM

They are crap. A helicopter's biggest advantage is they can carry as much armor as the powerplant can lift. But a grasshopper is limited by the chassis of the car, with a heavy helicopter power plant. Worst of both worlds. You're lucky to see one with more than 20 points of armor on a side - absent CA frames as Racer stated. At which point you can maybe bump it up to 30 points!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Daimyo_Shi

Can I ask what people think of Grass hoppers?

sparcipx · 10-18-2021, 07:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Daimyo_Shi

Can I ask what people think of Grass hoppers?

Great as a Q-car, but not much else. I used one in a cross-country campaign once, and managed to survive (as part of a convoy). Wasn't really worth the money my character spent.

swordtart · 10-19-2021, 12:40 AM

The idea is interesting, but it's hard to think of a situation where it would be anything other than a rubbish car or helicopter. It might have utility as a spy vehicle but frankly why not just buy a one man helo and have done with it. Maybe as the get-away vehicle of the scenarios end level boss, but not much else. Once the rules for autogyros came out I used them instead.

The requirement to have skills in both driver and pilot is also a big disadvantage.

Personally I have never seen one in play and whilst I started designing one on several occasions, tellingly, I never finished one as it quickly became apparent that they were uncompetitive. To be fair though originally they were car only, but now I see you can have a speedboat or std hovercraft variants that might have more utility. I may see if they can be better as they have higher weight limits and more space than cars (and the plant size for top end acceleration isn't too far off the boat plant anyway).

A boat-hopper than can lift off to make itself immune to torpedoes might be interesting and a hover-hopper has true versatility (at least in where it can go) - hmmm I could see one of these as a police vehicle in the everglades maybe.

In Aeroduel we also get Carplanes and Hoverplanes which are alternatives. The carplane is more efficeint than the grasshopper but need to be converted while stationary (and can takes minutes so is out of scope in combat). The hover plane takes a few seconds. You'll need to assess whether the conversion is a better cost/weight proposition than the grasshopper mod.

Racer · 10-19-2021, 09:43 AM

Grasshoppers can good racing vehicles , as maxed Small Aircraft PP produces 9,200 Power Factors over maxed Thundercat's 7,705 PFs .

Yes it's a 1,000lbs heavier & balancing act between two in various Car bodies sizes . I designed a 5,600lb Streamlined Sedan Grasshopper - with 10mph Acceleration in Helicopter mode - that has Top Speed of 247.5mph (267.5mph with Over Drive) .

That's Bugatti Veyron type performance , but in $50,000 price range ...

Reminds me of that custom converted Rolls Royce in the 1980's , with an actual Merlin aero engine installed ! Top Speed around 180mph & a two Miles per Gallon fuel consumption ...

43Supporter · 10-19-2021, 02:21 PM

In the immortal words of the TV show _Almost Live_: "*LAME*!"

Reasons have been covered above.

svawter · 10-19-2021, 11:10 PM

Grasshoppers are totally awesome at jumping sharks

😉

Racer · 10-20-2021, 12:26 AM

Photo's of 'The Beast' Mk1 & Mk2 on Tumblr . The Rolls Royce's Meteor (Merlin) engined , Rolls Royce grilled (Mk1 only) custom car :

https://carnutter.tumblr.com/post/17...e-early-1970ss

It overtook a family friend in his E-Type Jaguar , on a British motorway circa. 1980 .

swordtart · 10-20-2021, 09:35 AM

Just made a Std. Hover Hopper. With nothing but the Grasshopper mod, the required Small Helo plant, Std skirts, one crewmember and 150pts plastic armour it left 7 spaces and only 250lb for weapons.

So no all hoppers are pish :)

10-18-2021, 03:49 PM	#1
Daimyo_Shi Join Date: Jun 2021 Location: Calgary, Alberta	Grasshopers Can I ask what people think of Grass hoppers? __________________ CADA - Calgary "If designing a Monte Carlo clone and putting a Thundercat power plant is wrong I don't want to be Right!"

10-19-2021, 12:40 AM	#5
swordtart Join Date: Jun 2008	Re: Grasshopers The idea is interesting, but it's hard to think of a situation where it would be anything other than a rubbish car or helicopter. It might have utility as a spy vehicle but frankly why not just buy a one man helo and have done with it. Maybe as the get-away vehicle of the scenarios end level boss, but not much else. Once the rules for autogyros came out I used them instead. The requirement to have skills in both driver and pilot is also a big disadvantage. Personally I have never seen one in play and whilst I started designing one on several occasions, tellingly, I never finished one as it quickly became apparent that they were uncompetitive. To be fair though originally they were car only, but now I see you can have a speedboat or std hovercraft variants that might have more utility. I may see if they can be better as they have higher weight limits and more space than cars (and the plant size for top end acceleration isn't too far off the boat plant anyway). A boat-hopper than can lift off to make itself immune to torpedoes might be interesting and a hover-hopper has true versatility (at least in where it can go) - hmmm I could see one of these as a police vehicle in the everglades maybe. In Aeroduel we also get Carplanes and Hoverplanes which are alternatives. The carplane is more efficeint than the grasshopper but need to be converted while stationary (and can takes minutes so is out of scope in combat). The hover plane takes a few seconds. You'll need to assess whether the conversion is a better cost/weight proposition than the grasshopper mod. Last edited by swordtart; 10-19-2021 at 01:01 AM.

10-19-2021, 09:43 AM	#6
Racer Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: London, UK	Re: Grasshopers Grasshoppers can good racing vehicles , as maxed Small Aircraft PP produces 9,200 Power Factors over maxed Thundercat's 7,705 PFs . Yes it's a 1,000lbs heavier & balancing act between two in various Car bodies sizes . I designed a 5,600lb Streamlined Sedan Grasshopper - with 10mph Acceleration in Helicopter mode - that has Top Speed of 247.5mph (267.5mph with Over Drive) . That's Bugatti Veyron type performance , but in $50,000 price range ... Reminds me of that custom converted Rolls Royce in the 1980's , with an actual Merlin aero engine installed ! Top Speed around 180mph & a two Miles per Gallon fuel consumption ... __________________ Five Gauss Guns on a Camper !!! The Resident Brit .

10-19-2021, 02:21 PM	#7
43Supporter Join Date: Dec 2007	Re: Grasshopers In the immortal words of the TV show _Almost Live_: "LAME!" Reasons have been covered above. __________________ "Dale who?" 79er The Jeremy Clarkson Debate Course: 1) I'm Right. 2) You're Wrong. 3) The End.

10-19-2021, 11:10 PM	#8
svawter Join Date: Apr 2015 Location: SF Bay Area, CA	Re: Grasshopers Grasshoppers are totally awesome at jumping sharks 😉

10-20-2021, 12:26 AM	#9
Racer Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: London, UK	Re: Grasshopers Photo's of 'The Beast' Mk1 & Mk2 on Tumblr . The Rolls Royce's Meteor (Merlin) engined , Rolls Royce grilled (Mk1 only) custom car : https://carnutter.tumblr.com/post/17...e-early-1970ss It overtook a family friend in his E-Type Jaguar , on a British motorway circa. 1980 . __________________ Five Gauss Guns on a Camper !!! The Resident Brit .

10-20-2021, 09:35 AM	#10
swordtart Join Date: Jun 2008	Re: Grasshopers Just made a Std. Hover Hopper. With nothing but the Grasshopper mod, the required Small Helo plant, Std skirts, one crewmember and 150pts plastic armour it left 7 spaces and only 250lb for weapons. So no all hoppers are pish :)