Problem with assault dropships - they are DROPSHIPS not assault ships or some real battle air vehicles (flying battle school bus). Joke is good when you say it first time, but if you keep telling it 10 times in row to same ppl... Air vehicles in Dust is a joke.

Sooooooo......we're now complaining about the only Skillshot Weapon Systems left in DUST??? Derpships simply want no Counter...........they already got rid of Swarms. The PLC & AV Nades don't even reach you FFS!!!! with Hardeners & Overboost a ***SKILLED*** Dropship Pilot is essentially Invincible..... Flight Ceiling Abuse + Speed + Free Range of Motion/Maneuverability + Cover = Invulnerable Spawn Point or.....in the case of ADS, a Distraction with the ability to DPS.

But no......FG & Rails need to go

This is why I H8 DUST..... It's a Cespool Spawn Point for the worst type of Gamer.....

PS: As an Armor Tanker who wants a Swarm Buff (GASP!!! Did he just say that???) I'd have to say the problem is YOU!!!!! ALL OF YOU ARE F**KING TRASH SCUM WHINY INCONSIDERATE SH*TSTAINS ON THE TITLE OF "GAMER"!!!! F**K DUST....& F**K ALL OF YOU!!!!!

You make me sad Q_Q
Also, am still opposed to Assault Dropships, they just don't make sense, Need proper gunships.

People like me? The reason I disliked it and have disliked it since it's creation is the fact that it's like CCP saying "We're not bothering with gunships for now, so here's a Dropship with a turret stuck to the front", I found it lacked in everyway and wasn't what I'd hoped for when I was piloting. Oh and just to let you know, my sig is "Vehicle Specialist" for a reason, I flew Dropships alongside some of the best pilots, my original intention was to be a gunship pilot with my buds, we were all going to go and create a Vehicle group and work on tactics with one another, quickly fell apart due to Missiles winning all the time. The only reason I've stopped piloting is trying it with a KB/M is ridiculous and I've busted my DS3.

I will always maintain that Dropships should be DROPSHIPS, for troop deployment and evac, the side gunners being mostly used for covering Infantry as the ship comes in to pick them up or covering them as they deployed. I always believed the Dropship should be bulky and slow, but have a massive tank, being as difficult, if not more difficult, to destroy than a HAV. I had hoped by release the Gunships would've been out and ready for pilots, it'd be pretty much the same as an ADS, but not be a small turret stuck to the front and it'd be weaker than the envisioned Dropship, but faster and have more damage output.

I've enjoyed flying Dropships, the ADS was a breath of fresh air and trying to formation fly with FACES and Foxhound was hilarious and quite enjoyable, still dislike it due to CCP pretending a Dropship is the same thing as a gunship though. So please, don't class me as "just a tanker" who did nothing else but tank, I drive all vehicles, it is my intention to master, or atleast become proficient in every vehicle in the game.

And that's one of the OP's tactics in game. I've seen it myself. To hover and harass blues. So I don't understand. Someone found a way to take you out and you're upset about it? I call it due justice. The only thing broken is folks ability to understand that for every action there's a counter action. Don't get mad when that counter happens to you.

So here is what I think an Assault Dropship is for,

During Combat it is Highly likely to require troops to be dropped into a contested zone, often in to areas with little cover, its here the assault dropship is useful, available to provide covering fire while troops find a safe location, the assault dropship isn't made for marathons of combat, instead often relying on gunship or fighter escort to successfully transport its cargo.

Does that sound right?
Is that how they should be / are being used?

Yes bet that is a redline problem as has been said so many times before.
The thing is how often in a CLOSE FIGHT will be teams get redlined? Once in a blue moon.
So why do we have a red line? For a safe place to spawn without being camped.
Why do we need that? Protostompers.

If we didn't have the protostomping phenomenon, we wouldn't need redlines, if we didn't have redlines then long ramge could be countered with short range flanking. Thus it would be balanced.

All of our redline, equipment and vehicluar problems spawn from protostomping, so long as it happens the game isn't balanced.

I really wish i was there to see that attack by Dust Fiend, because that sounds like absolute eye candy for dropship pilots. I've actually had a similar case where I was attacking a railgun camper ontop of a skyscraper (before recalls existed) and instead of just taking my missiles to his hull and dealing with it, he decided to go full speed off of the edge and free-fall to his death, which happened upon impact when he met the ground. Needless to say i was laughing for quite a while.

THE ADS. IT'S A HUEY HELICOPTER. IT MAKES SENSE!

P.S. Pvt. I'll gitchu for ma tank man!

Redline tanks are not automatically unstoppable. I've been on both sides of the redline game, and I've killed and been killed by rail tanks. Some guys will just run with a failing strategy and blow through 20 ADS in a match, and others find their inner killer instinct with a suicidal RE-packed LAV. Also, a no SP Sica can spawn camp the redline, but that's not nearly as fun.

Dropships have always annoyed me. They facilitate rooftop snipers (forge and rifles) - tactics I despise, and it's little different from redline camping/hiding. Same attitude. Pilots asked for a chance, they didn't like being threatened by infantry, so now we have to call in tanks to counter their cowardly tactics. I do it because I have to, and if I can discourage future harassment, that's a win-win. If these pilots had their way, I'd need to build a DS covered in REs to have a chance at killing another dropship. That would be silly, but nobody should feel safe anywhere on the battlefield.

I've stopped using my ads in favor of tanking because the second a rail tank or rail instillation has me in its sights I'm screwed. I'd have to agree with you that the rail turret needs something done with it or the maps need something done with them.

I've ripped many dropships from the sky with a rail gun. It isn't hard to lead the shot especially if you used to the assault forge gun and know how to fly a dropship. It makes flight path prediction easy.

I can at least cower behind a building from a forge gunner.

Honestly, The only thing stopping ADS ships from going 30-0 are Rail Gun Tanks.

If Rail Tanks get a re-balance the forge guns and swarms need a buff

Yesterday, I destroyed a Python in one shot from 500m. All Pythons except those with a Complex Heavy Shield Extender die in one shot to a glass cannon, with no warning. They're just flying along and bam, dead. A Complex Heavy Shield Extender Python would survive with, according to my calculations, a whopping 100 armor.