Dropships, we all know them and a few of us know how amazing they can be. Almost all pilots can attest to why they are lacking, so I decided to create this thread to discuss the future of the dropship and where I would personally like to see them go in the future as a veteran pilot.

The current state of dropships:
The dropship as we see them today (uprising 1.3) aren't typically used to their full effect, as many "pilots" simply use them to get on top of buildings that are otherwise inaccessible by other means. Many of these "pilots" will come to the forums to say that the dropship is a useless vehicle unworthy of any attention. This, my fellow dust bunnies, couldn't be further from the truth.

Assault dropships in particular have great potential for doing all sorts of missions including, but not limited to; providing fire support, point control, recon, air superiority, extract/insertion and anti sniper operations.

The logistics dropship is also capable of preforming valuable roles such as, Providing a mobile spawn point, vehicle repair, and area denial. (im sure there is more though im not a logi dropship pilot)

The handling of STD and LOGI dropships is much to be desired, the handling of the STD hasn't changed since chromosome and fills its role well as a transport. The LOGI dropships handling is pretty bargy which is why I didn't pursue a LOGI dropship career. Assault dropship handling is really good, fast and responsive. Generally dedicated pilots fly these for their handling, if not for their front mounted pilot controlled gun.

Enemies of the dropship are abundant and if a pilot doesn't keep his wits about him while braving the skies of new eden then he is in for a bumpy ride. Instillations can two shot even the best of fits and are not to be taken lightly. Forge guns have started to use the dropship against its pilots by ramming cheaper milita dropships into prototype fits, killing them instantly. When they aren't kamakazing into other dropships they are getting up to high vantage areas to dominate against any form of vehicle. Red line rail tanks have plagued the mountains to do nothing more than make life hell for any pilot.
Many pilots have lost well over 100 million isk learning from hard counters like these. (including myself) many more have broke the bank and given up. Though a few of us still remain, as the sky calls to us.

despite all these hurdles dropships can still be an extremely effective tool. When utilized with a squad properly, the dropship becomes the shark of the skies and can dominate the battlefield.

Looking to the future:
So where do we go from here? The dropship was clearly designed to be a squad and even team based vehicle. I would like to see most of the future development on dropships go towards this original design.

The key issue holding back dropships from reaching their true glory is the current map sizes. (CCP you have heard me say this before) The maps are huge yes, though still too small for most to risk hopping in a dropship as they can either walk, or call down a LAV. If a point is 2 kilometers away then squads are going to be wondering where to get a good pilot. Suddenly the value of the few dedicated pilots who have remained through trial and tribulation is recognized. Now corps might help us pay for dropships to get us on our feet and help lighten the heavy burden on our wallets.
Actual dropship piloting will be in demand, rather than a bunch of inexperienced pilots promoting an expensive elevator service!

Rail weaponry can deploy in ways that severely limits a dropships operational capabilities and denies entire regions of the map. On some maps a good 75-80% of the map can be denied by one red line railgun tank. With larger maps these tanks would have to come out of the red line to deny certain areas of the map, giving pilots a chance to engage them and have a little more mobility when rail tanks are deployed.

With larger maps comes larger teams, adding a few more mercs per battle on these larger maps would give a dropship, and its shock team, the freedom of staying airborne until called upon to hit an objective. The coolest thing I've experienced in my career as a dropship pilot is approaching a DZ while under fire and deploying a team on a mission. Many soldiers I've flown with have said several times, "that felt just like a campaign mission!" This aspect alone has kept me flying through dark times.
More emphasis on this aspect would really improve the quality of dropship gameplay. Things like WP for kills or hacks after 'X' time after a drop to help reward good piloting and teamwork is something that has been asked for since beta and would help us pay for these expensive sky sharks! (ill put a link to another brilliant dropship thread where this is discussed to great length)

With larger maps the dropship will truly come into its role, providing quick transport and air mobile infantry. This is the true calling of dropship pilots. This is the reason I choose dropships right from the get go, not to be a gunship, to be a dropship. There aren't enough games that have dropships in them, even fewer that have done them right. Dust gives us a chance to help the devs with the daunting task of making dropships work.

All we need is a little room to spread our wings and all the problems we have now will become a distant memory.
of course there are a few things us pilots could use before this ill be putting a few links under this post with information about that.

I hope this information has been helpful and sparks some good discussion about the future of dropships
pilots feel welcome to share your thoughts on these ideas! I know you all like a good dropship thread as much as me!

thanks for your time, fly safe shoot strait