DUST Search - Are dropships fulfilling their role?

Serimos Haeraven wrote:

Gabriella Grey wrote:

CharCharOdell wrote:

I say yes. Militia drop ships win battles because placement is key for many weapons. Height is key to every battle.

However, they are not worth speccing into. A fully upgrades drop ship will last 3 shots vs 1 shot from a rail gun; that equates to 3 seconds to gtfo or lose a million or so.

The assault drop ship doesn't really fulfill its intended niche. Partly due to the new camera making aim more difficult, and partly because a small turret doesn't hit hard enough. I feel its intended role is to drop infantry off and then provide air support but it just isn't working. We need medium turrets for them to be Able to protect infantry. An ADS with an XT-01 Frag missile (large) would be fearsome and is honestly what we need to be able to put on a dedicated gunship.

My idea of a STD gunship would have (caldari)
3800 shields
45 passive recharge
Large turret for the gunner
Afterburner

Something like that.

It all starts with the pilot. A militia dropship is already at an disadvantage when up against one spec. into, the same as wearing militia gear to someone wearing proto gear. Many who say this, that dropships are not worth the time, because they fail to understand their workings. Just as any role in the game, dropships have their own forte on skills the player rely's on that isn't in a module, or equipment stats. It starts at their brain and using tactical resolution to what they are doing. Dropships are not suppose to serve a role like a tank, staying in one place and shouldering the might of every anti vehicle weaponry that comes its way. As for how the turrets, and many more things in general for vehicles, all of this is going to be reworked in 1.5. From what I can understand is Anti vehicle weaponry mostly is balanced when it comes to HAV's. The buff to LAV health was a result, of this but I am not sure why dropships were over looked during this, making them far weaker than the other two and giving them no true niche to call their own, outside of those who spec into them fully. Then you have the relation of turrets, large or small being more wanting with the amount of damage and range they should have, all while trying to keep the game fun. What I think, and this is completely my thoughts only, is each vehicle should have their own class of turrets unique to them, or at least when equip on certain vehicles that the attributes are altered suiting the vehicle. A dropship should have a much longer range with small turrets, or perhaps introduce a medium turret, that is similar to small turrets but with some slight differences, like longer range, and allowing the fragmented missiles to be able to do more damage across a wider range pass 2 meters at prototype. Currently grenades have a far larger radius than this. To balance the turrets out they could reduce the fragmented splash damage, but turrets in regards to vehicles do need to be looked into. Check out a few dropship topics on the forums, talking about some similar things you have posted, and due read CCP's responses to them, and give your feedback as much.

Hope my information helped. Ugh

As a veteran dropship pilot i agree with this completely, well, mainly the assertion that our role isn't really represented by a statistic or a module, but rather with how the pilot uses the dropship in various situations to keep it alive while also being able to fend off infantry troops or railgun redline snipers, or other enemy proto dropships, A really good pilot should be able to respond to practically any situation in a match and still get away no matter what without losing the dropship (except in OHK officer forge gun situations), and many pilots that i know including myself have the capability to do this.


Author	Thread Statistics \| Show CCP posts - 0 post(s)
gbghg L.O.T.I.S. 3425	Posted - 2013.09.12 17:11:00 - [1] - Quote LT apparition wrote: i believe the effectiveness of the dropship is reflected based on it's pilot... i myself am a good pilot... flying in tight places getting in and out, and laying down gun fire in my assault dropship.. but ... i go maybe 14/0 in the damn thing... i get loads of assists, but damn my cousin ha she takes the cake as the Greatest pilot i've seen in dust... she'll got 43/0 in her dropship... and she is far better than what you'll find anywhere... shes in terms " An ACE" next to impossible to shoot down.... as well i've hit her twice with orbitals while she was landed.. and her dropships just eats it.... and burps right back up... her best ship have 1500 sheild, and 2513 armor... and this thing fires rockets like crazy fast for fragmented missles... with the payload module... and she just sweeps in and bombards your arse... i've barely been able to escape her alot of times... anyway ya i'm ranting on.. dropship fullfill their role completely ... its just the pilot that counts. not everyone can fly. oh also she freaking will just road kill people in her dropship alot she'll do low level strafes close to the ground, and run them over hahaha its the funniest thing to see... 5 red dots... get lawn mowered by a dropship. Sounds like a cool pilot, mention condor squad too her will you? It's the biggest hangout for pilots in dust right now, and we're always keen to meet new faces, we normally try to run dropship squads every now and then, they're normally pretty fun.
gbghg L.O.T.I.S. 3425	Posted - 2013.09.12 17:16:00 - [2] - Quote Serimos Haeraven wrote: Gabriella Grey wrote: CharCharOdell wrote: I say yes. Militia drop ships win battles because placement is key for many weapons. Height is key to every battle. However, they are not worth speccing into. A fully upgrades drop ship will last 3 shots vs 1 shot from a rail gun; that equates to 3 seconds to gtfo or lose a million or so. The assault drop ship doesn't really fulfill its intended niche. Partly due to the new camera making aim more difficult, and partly because a small turret doesn't hit hard enough. I feel its intended role is to drop infantry off and then provide air support but it just isn't working. We need medium turrets for them to be Able to protect infantry. An ADS with an XT-01 Frag missile (large) would be fearsome and is honestly what we need to be able to put on a dedicated gunship. My idea of a STD gunship would have (caldari) 3800 shields 45 passive recharge Large turret for the gunner Afterburner Something like that. It all starts with the pilot. A militia dropship is already at an disadvantage when up against one spec. into, the same as wearing militia gear to someone wearing proto gear. Many who say this, that dropships are not worth the time, because they fail to understand their workings. Just as any role in the game, dropships have their own forte on skills the player rely's on that isn't in a module, or equipment stats. It starts at their brain and using tactical resolution to what they are doing. Dropships are not suppose to serve a role like a tank, staying in one place and shouldering the might of every anti vehicle weaponry that comes its way. As for how the turrets, and many more things in general for vehicles, all of this is going to be reworked in 1.5. From what I can understand is Anti vehicle weaponry mostly is balanced when it comes to HAV's. The buff to LAV health was a result, of this but I am not sure why dropships were over looked during this, making them far weaker than the other two and giving them no true niche to call their own, outside of those who spec into them fully. Then you have the relation of turrets, large or small being more wanting with the amount of damage and range they should have, all while trying to keep the game fun. What I think, and this is completely my thoughts only, is each vehicle should have their own class of turrets unique to them, or at least when equip on certain vehicles that the attributes are altered suiting the vehicle. A dropship should have a much longer range with small turrets, or perhaps introduce a medium turret, that is similar to small turrets but with some slight differences, like longer range, and allowing the fragmented missiles to be able to do more damage across a wider range pass 2 meters at prototype. Currently grenades have a far larger radius than this. To balance the turrets out they could reduce the fragmented splash damage, but turrets in regards to vehicles do need to be looked into. Check out a few dropship topics on the forums, talking about some similar things you have posted, and due read CCP's responses to them, and give your feedback as much. Hope my information helped. As a veteran dropship pilot i agree with this completely, well, mainly the assertion that our role isn't really represented by a statistic or a module, but rather with how the pilot uses the dropship in various situations to keep it alive while also being able to fend off infantry troops or railgun redline snipers, or other enemy proto dropships, A really good pilot should be able to respond to practically any situation in a match and still get away no matter what without losing the dropship (except in OHK officer forge gun situations), and many pilots that i know including myself have the capability to do this. I was in a condor squad last night, we were in an ambush with about 4 of us flying when we started getting hit by forge gun fire, after one of our ships went down we noticed it was a gastun we quickly reached a decision. Me, judge and another pilot ( I can't remember who it was, sorry) descended on him,it was risky but we managed to kill him before he shot anymore of us down. We all felt rather happy at the destruction of an officer forge gun, the guy using it then proceeded to camp on e tabletop at the center of the map for the rest of the match stopping us from doing anything, but the destruction of the gastun made the match for me.