Originally posted by Nilsen10
I would also like to see armed landincraft that could take any gv. when you hit the beach, jut open the doors and hit F1 to get in gv driver pos.
Unfortunately, the various models of LCT are severe overkill for what you are proposing. The LCT Mk 1 and Mk 2 had a cargo capacity of 250 tons, the LCT Mk 3 had a cargo capacity of 300 tons, the LCT Mk 4 had a cargo capacity of 350 tons, and the LCT Mk 5 and Mk 6 had a cargo capacity of 150 tons.
From the photo above, an LCT Mk 5 could carry five M3 Grant tanks (the photo is of LCT 20, delivered 9/26/42); with more than twice the cargo capacity, a single LCT Mk 4 could carry enough GVs to conduct a full-on assault on a base all by itself. Unfortunately, the smaller LCM series of landing craft, with cargo capacities around 30-60 tons, are post-war development.
If HT were going to implement LCTs properly, it would either have to be done by an LCT driver getting a group of people to join before they spawned for the drive to the beach, or set an LCT up as a miniature VH with a capacity of, say, five (for Mk 5 or Mk 6) or ten (for Mk 3 or Mk 4) vehicles. When the LCT is beached and drops its bow ramp, it becomes 'open' for spawning, and closes when its vehicle count is exhausted. people would be able to move to the LCT as if it were a VH either while it was proceeding to the beach or after it beached. The LCT would have to remain beached even if the driver exited, unless it was destroyed or ran out of vehicle capacity.
Of course, it's always possible that, like the artificial game-mechanic that sets the capacity of the M3 and C-47 to ten troops, HT may, if he decides that LCTs are a useful addition to the boat set, choose to implement LCTs as a single-vehicle delivery system. I
would expect, though, that an LCT would be a perked ride, since being able to put
any vehicle ashore, rather than being limited to the LVTs, would functionally eliminate usage of the LVT in the game. Perhaps adding an LSD (Landing Ship Dock) to the CV fleet, and disabling LCTs when the LSD is sunk, would help keep LCTs from killing LVT usage.
It's not relevant to the implementation of vehicle landing craft, but there were tests done in the late 1950s to see if LSDs could be used as seaplane tenders; the photograph below shows USS Ashland (LSD-1) docking a P5M Marlin in her well deck.
