We have more then enough people who can run assault drop ships. Its the cost that kept them from being spammed.

They have 1 effective counter as of right now, and that is rail tanks. Breach forge guns with dmg mods work, but only for pythons.

I have yet to see a Incubus be taken out of the sky by anything other then a rail tanks, and that is only extremely open maps with redlined that can overlook the entire map.

One of the funnest games I've played in Dust was one where the enemy called in 4 dropships and my team called in dropships and we battled it out in the skies. It devolved into ramming into each other, but that was towards the end of the match. Come to think of it, it was Kujo and some of his mates in the dropships.

That being said, dropships are amazing fun. Yes they cost too much and you'll go broke before you even learn to properly pilot, but with rail turrets and rail tanks being completely broken, matches like that are not going to happen for new players. This completely takes away a truly fun part of the game.

What level is your forge at? Because I've never had a dropship take one shot from me and stay anywhere near me...and live.

And as far as this "don't use what you can't afford to use" goes. You actually have to be able to use something. Call in a dropship with rails on the field. Feel the glorious power for the entire 3 seconds you're in the air. That's if it even makes off the RDV before it's railed to death.

Cost is fine.

500k for a fully proto-ed ship (mods and turret).

That's about 2 good games per ship. If you're losing more than that, even with rail tanks currently (why are you risking an ADS with a redline rail tank on the field anyway?), you're doing it wrong.

I take up that challenge gladly. With two enhanced hardeners and a enhance heavy shield extender I can take prolonged fire from proto forge. I am not perfect yet in forge v ads, but practice makes perfect!

Cost is fine.

500k for a fully proto-ed ship (mods and turret).

That's about 2 good games per ship. If you're losing more than that, even with rail tanks currently (why are you risking an ADS with a redline rail tank on the field anyway?), you're doing it wrong.

Cost is fine.

500k for a fully proto-ed ship (mods and turret).

That's about 2 good games per ship. If you're losing more than that, even with rail tanks currently (why are you risking an ADS with a redline rail tank on the field anyway?), you're doing it wrong.

Where are you getting mods and turrets for so cheap? My full proto fit is 707k and my dropship for one gunner runs me 650k. I want a cost effective dropship like that

Dropship pilots typically get paid leas per game than the average player. Not sure why but I have noticed it. For me its 2-3 good games to pay of one of my raptors, sometimes I do get 250k if me and my gunners kill 4 tanks and some infantry but that's a challenge.

Why do I risk my python when there is a redline rail on the field, good question. That's most of the games I play honestly. Some maps just aren't good for dropships, some are excellent, but all are good for rail tanks. So on the maps that I can fly I fly, typically the enemy calls down a rail tank in the red and I can't always be watching there. Unlike tanks I can't look independently from the direction I'm moving. So quite frequently I don't know there even is a rail tank in the battle, because 9 times out of 10 they aren't even on the battlefield.

Edit: also about half of my sp is in dropships (23mil sp char), I hate being a quitter because someone called down a milita tank. Sometimes if I have my gunners with me I can fly into the redline and put out enough fire power to kill the tank and make it out of the red with 3 seconds or less on the clock. Because flying my python in dust is where I get my fun, if I recalled every time a rail tank was called I might as well have not spent any sp into dropships.

I've been managing to break even recently by taking a minute out of my ADS time to throw down uplinks (I use my M-1 logi BPO as a pilot suit with two sets of advanced uplinks and a rep tool). I put them in high places after calling my ADS if the map has good spots or otherwise just on the ground as I move to a safe zone to call my ADS in. These combined with some kills will often put me in the top 5 for WP and get me 200-250k for an ambush or 300k for a good skirmish match.

It's not the dropship, the point of my discussion is when rail tanks are nerfed there will be nothing left to take them out. so why do they deserve a price reduction?

Forge guns, swarms, missle tanks, blaster tanks, any kind of turret. Considering ADS pilots have to come into within 100 meters to attack ground troops I'm going to say AV grenades too. Oh and I've dealt the death blow to a dropship with an AV grenade too, so there's that.

What is the counter for a red line rail tank? Oh, absolutely nothing? LAV bomb and pray you make it to the dickless asshat before the timer goes off?

There is no justification for the garbage that is rail tanks.

A freshly bought unmodified assault dropship costs about as much as a decently fitted tank (certainly more than a very effective 70k tank). There is no reason why it should be so costly.

Basic dropship 45k
Assault dropship 323k (costs much more when fully well fitted)

I believe that specializations for vehicles and dropsuits should be more expensive than their basic counterparts, but it should be like a 20% increase. Right now an assault dropship has over a 7x increase in price compared to a basic dropship.

An assault dropship with only a small turret for the pilot should not be cheaper or cost more than a tank with substantially more HP and firepower capable of ruing the lives of infantry. It is no way ok that being an assault dropship pilot should mean living in poverty.

Assault dropship prices need to be severely cut.

I do agree that a 7x cost increase is absurd, but only having 20% cost increase for specializations is far too little; specialized vehicles should just be 3x the cost; in the case assault dropship, it should be 135k.

Honestly, have any of you who are against ADS price decrease actually flown one? For one match? Any takers?

At a minimum, ADS need a price decrease, hands down. 120k would be optimal. They need some more work beyond that, but a price decrease at least means I can fly one without worrying about having to go 2-3 matches to replace it should I lose it very fast.

A freshly bought unmodified assault dropship costs about as much as a decently fitted tank (certainly more than a very effective 70k tank). There is no reason why it should be so costly.

Basic dropship 45k
Assault dropship 323k (costs much more when fully well fitted)

Assault dropship prices need to be severely cut.

Look at it in another way: Assault dropships price is FINE, Tanks price is way too low.
Otherwise why would people spam MLT tanks in every single f***** game?

MLT tank + MLT suit = a lot of kills and potentially little to none ISK loss.

MLT tank price GåÆ 250,000 ISK
BSC tank price GåÆ 350,000 ISK
MLT dropship price GåÆ 150,000 ISK
BSC dropship price GåÆ 200,000 ISK
BSC assault dropship price GåÆ 300,000 ISK

of course all the gear/weaponry should receive a massive ISK cost raise...

Honestly, have any of you who are against ADS price decrease actually flown one? For one match? Any takers?

At a minimum, ADS need a price decrease, hands down. 120k would be optimal. They need some more work beyond that, but a price decrease at least means I can fly one without worrying about having to go 2-3 matches to replace it should I lose it.

Or 150k, either way it needs to go down...

Look at it in another way: Assault dropships price is FINE, Tanks price is way too low.
Otherwise why would people spam MLT tanks in every single f***** game?

MLT tank + MLT suit = a lot of kills and potentially little to none ISK loss.

MLT tank price GåÆ 250,000 ISK
BSC tank price GåÆ 350,000 ISK
MLT dropship price GåÆ 150,000 ISK
BSC dropship price GåÆ 200,000 ISK
BSC assault dropship price GåÆ 300,000 ISK

of course all the gear/weaponry should receive a massive ISK cost raise...

I need to just stop skilling into the assault dropship. You would think I would of learned by now.

You shouldn't go ISK negative after losing just a single one in a match even if you run free fits after. Each play style should be sustainable.

I'm running all STD modules on a STD hull and the only thing I splurge on is an ADV turret. That's the equivalent of you running a STD racal suit with STD mods and a GEK. Would you expect to go negative after losing just one of those per match?

I thought CCP was lowering the cost of hulls and putting the cost into modules, but the ADS hull costs 2-3 times my modules which makes it impossible to make a cost efficient fitting. There is no incentive to make fitting tradeoffs. You may as well proto every module you can because it's only a marginal cost increase for a significant bump in survivability.

If you need to survive an entire match you load out to be invincible each and every match. That frustrates and angers AV which perpetuates the cries of OP/nerf. If vehicles are to be killable, they need to be affordable. Not fully loaded, jewel encrusted ones, but certainly ones running a mix of STD and ADV modules.

To be honest most to all mlt tanks are no match for my 680k isk tank and i've taken on more than 1 at a time so really mlt tanks ain't as bad as some say granted still op just not vs an actual tank fit

I agree the cost differential on a lot of items in Dust is criminal. The Commando is another example.

A LOT of items need to be revisited.