Ratchet & Clank Wiki
Ratchet & Clank Wiki
Ratchet & Clank Wiki
1,908
pages
in: Vehicles

Dropship

Sign in to edit

Dropships are a type of commonly recurring vehicle in the Ratchet & Clank series. They are used to transport soldiers and 'drop' them in the midst of battle against Ratchet and Clank. Some of them also had offensive capabilities, in which case they were often also deployed as gunships. All of them sported thick armor, to shield themselves as they would be vulnerable when dropping off units. All dropships could be destroyed, which could lessen the enemies' combat capabilities significantly due to the lack of reinforcements.

History[]

Ratchet & Clank[]

In Ratchet & Clank, the blarg possessed several powerful dropships, called armed transports, which were solely used to move their most elite commandos. They first appeared during the blarg attack on the Gadgetron site on Kalebo III, and later in very high number during the blarg offensive on Kyzil Plateau on Veldin. They had substantial armor, and a both powerful and accurate missile launcher.

In the 2016 re-imagining, they are designated by Drek Industries as dropship model X6Z and also known as "The Dropship of Death."[1] They are commonly referred to by most as simply blarg armored transports[2] and armed with twin gatling laser cannons. They perform the same role as in the original Ratchet & Clank, but deploy a variety of blarg soldiers and warbots. They also first appear much earlier on Veldin and more frequent throughout the game.

Going Commando[]

In Going Commando, Thugs-4-Less used dropships first during "Win the Arena Battle", as dropships on the Maktar Resort transported Thugs-4-Less Brutes on Ratchet's way to the Galactic Gladiators battle. Next, dropships were used by Angela Cross to transport both the flamethrower model and the chainsaw model Megacorp Security Robots on Siberius during "Find and confront the thief", warping them in to stop Ratchet from confronting her.

A Thugs-4-Less dropship also transported Ratchet and Clank to the Thugs-4-Less Prison after being captured at the end of "Find Mr. Fizzwidget", showing they are capable of space travel. Finally, dropships transported the Extermibots on Damosel to combat the Protopet crisis in Allgon City during "Save the overrun planet".

Up Your Arsenal[]

In Up Your Arsenal, dropships were commonly used by the tyhrranoids, with their tyhrranoid dropship being a constant sight in the skies during any of their invasions, as well as several locations in league with Dr. Nefarious. They are only used to transport three-eyed tyhrranoids and ultra mecha-tyhrranoids, dropping off on average three of the former and two of the latter, although numbers of up to four are possible. They were also encountered in direct combat a few times, primarily in the hovership or a turret.

The Galactic Rangers also possessed their own dropship that they used to move Rangers, and Ratchet and Clank, between battlefields. It is normally parked in the hangar bay in the Starship Phoenix, but deployed on several locations where Ranger operations took place, such as Marcadia, Tyhrranosis, Rilgar, Kerwan, and Aridia. It was also seen twice on Veldin and once on Mylon, and in all instances but Marcadia, Ratchet and the Rangers were forced to perform a HALO jump, as the ship lacked the proper defenses to deal with the tyhrranoids' anti-air installations. It also has a vendor on-board for restocking on ammo and purchasing new weapons.

Nefarious also used yellow dropships called troop transports at his Nefarious BFG area on Koros, encountered during "Get inside command center" and "Access big gun control panel". Troop transports had thrusters mounted on their back that could tilt upwards, allowing them to maintain lift, while also retaining the option to swiftly leave the area by tilting the thrusters forwards. They solely dropped off soldier bots, at a limit of four per transport. Only one is directly engaged in combat and attempted to block Ratchet and Clank from entering the local command center. Despite its size it is not particularly dangerous, having worse firing capabilities than the tyhrranoids' dropship, and is easily defeated with the Plasma Coil.

Deadlocked[]

DreadZone dropship

DreadZone dropship

In Deadlocked, Vox Industries produced dropships for their DreadZone Holovision combat show. They frequently deployed DZ Strikers and Tri-Spike Swarmers (and variants), among other enemy types. They had the added benefit of providing additional firepower with their mounted pair of rocket launchers.

Size Matters[]

In Size Matters, the technomites made use of a single dropship to deploy and move forces. It was first seen on Pokitaru's Jowai Resort, and later on fought and destroyed during "Explore the miniature city" on planet Challax.

Secret Agent Clank[]

In Secret Agent Clank, the Kingpin's forces make use of a helicopter as a dropship on Rionosis to deploy expatriots and henchbots at the mountainside ascent. Once all enemies are defeated the helicopter utilizes missiles to destroy the gondola platforms.

Tools of Destruction[]

A Tachyon transport ship

A Tachyon transport ship

The Imperial Army use Tachyon transport ships[3] which deploy drophyd forces as well as tesladrones. At the beginning of the game, these ships only bring enemies, but later use their frontal turrets to shoot red lasers, sometimes staying and shooting, and other times retreating. Long range weapons such as the Predator Launcher, and later on the Alpha Cannon or Negotiator, are useful against them. These ships are not affected by the Groovitron.

A Crack in Time[]

In A Crack in Time, agorians use Talons to deploy reinforcements to areas that they were invading. The Nefarious Troopers use dropships to beam down a variety of troopers. These also fight in the air from a distance.

Full Frontal Assault[]

Grungarian dropship

Grungarian dropship

In Full Frontal Assault, dropships are deployed by the grungarian marauders to beam down reinforcements, not to attack Ratchet, Clank, or Qwark. Likewise, the dropships cannot be attacked by them. Dropships on the move serve as an indicator that an attack on the base by grungarians is imminent.

Into the Nexus[]

The Thugs-4-Less use new dropships to deploy troops around the Zarkov Sector on Yerek and Silox while under the employ of Neftin Prog. These lack defensive capabilities but are quite sturdy and can carry multiple troops including thug brawlers and thug shooters, sometimes equipped with jetpacks.

Rift Apart[]

The rebranded Goons-4-Less used a new attack dropship armed with a gatling laser. The Nefarious Troopers also had their own dropship, armed with an explosive turbolux cannon and controlled primarily by hardwired drone pilot algorithms.

Behind the scenes[]

The first type of upgraded variant of the dropships in Tools of Destruction are called the quasar class Tachyon transports are encountered later on. Unlike the standard variant, they do not have a Courtney Gears Greatest Hits disc permanently jammed in and repeating on their stereo - something that was known to eventually drive the occupants of the ship to beat each other to death.[4] The second upgraded type is called the omega class Tachyon transport and is identical to to the quasar class transport vessel, with the exception of possessing a HDMI output. A third planned upgrade with Wi-Fi was planned but went unreleased due to "Omega" being used to refer to the last of something. Due to drophyd sentries going on strike in response to the cancellation, Tachyon created a new letter "Harvey" coming after omega. However the harvey class Tachyon transport still ended up being scrapped due to budget issues.[5]

Citations[]

  1. ↑ Ratchet & Clank (2016 game) script § "Return to the garage (gameplay)"
  2. ↑ Ratchet & Clank (2016 game) script § "Destroy the Blarg Armored Transports (gameplay)"
  3. ↑ BradyGames 2007, p. 185
  4. ↑ Tools of Destruction unused text § "Quasar Class Tachyon Transport"
  5. ↑ Tools of Destruction unused text § "Omega Class Tachyon Transport"

References[]

Video games
Books
  • BradyGames (2007). Ratchet & Clank Future Tools of Destruction Official Strategy Guide [Book]. BradyGames. ISBN 0744009774.
Community content is available under CC-BY-SA unless otherwise noted.
More Fandoms