Decided to get serious about dropshipin. So I made a fit that mirrors the same idea as my tank fits (with advice from DDB's resident ADS pilot). Shields FOTM, stacking HP, with a single hardener. Afterburner is a no brainer.

After playing around with it several matches, along with another VERY good DS pilot (not to mention testing out that skill stacking thing), WHO IN THEIR RIGHT MIND THINKS PYTHONS ARE SQUISHY. It just isn't as true as some make it out to be.

Agreed that in comparison to the incubus, they are much squishier. But in my testing against against AV, namely a certain proto assault forge gun, I found that a lot of the "Pythons are too squishy" are simply untrue and baseless. Sure I lost a couple, but managed to take a LOT of damage, and certainly dish it back out. And the only time I lose them is when 2 forgers, and tones of swarmers, gang up on me.

I mean seriously people, do you make these claims because of multiple AV driving you away?? I quite literally ate 3 AFG shots, ending in the eventual death of said forge gunner. Of which he asks, "How were you tanking that".

Magic, that's how.

You gots some graphs for forges? I would like to see that as well.

4-5 Volleys is 10.1-11.5s without skills, and 7.06-8.11s with max skills. Without skills, an ADS Pilot can escape 5 times before you actually kill it, and with max skills the ADS can escape 3 times before you actually kill it.

Given how the average human reaction time is 215ms, if you consider that to be "barely anything" your either 20.5x or 14x slower than the average human. In that case, I'd suggest seeking immediate help.

edit: Any Dropship with an Afterburner can easily evade the 3rd shot, and with Pythons you can evade the 2nd shot assuming your mildly competent

The bolded part is not irrelevant, as it disproves your assertion on the 3rd Shot being a guaranteed hit.

Are you online right now? I'm willing to bet 100m ISK that if you were to take a Swarm Launcher, you'd never hit me with the 3rd volley while in my Python. 4 Shots to kill is not ridiculous, as you already have plenty of time to evade, and you already have gains which make up for your lack of standing power.

Yes they do, their movement speed is 75m/s. I see no problem with the knockback feature, as you can tilt your ship to accommodate for the incoming effect. please, do go in a match and try it, doesn't always work, oet alone vs proto, and it pushes pythons back which is annoying

Emptying a clip may not take as long (only with max skills), but the travel time with the volleys easily makes up for that which it doesn't, still granteed 3 hits, as the way drooships work you won't see swarms til the first shot.

It's not a "sacrifice" but a "GAIN".

The bolded part is not irrelevant, as it disproves your assertion on the 3rd Shot being a guaranteed hit.

Are you online right now? I'm willing to bet 100m ISK that if you were to take a Swarm Launcher, you'd never hit me with the 3rd volley while in my Python. 4 Shots to kill is not ridiculous, as you already have plenty of time to evade, and you already have gains which make up for your lack of standing power.

Yes they do, their movement speed is 75m/s, and using an Afterburner brings that to 112m/s, which is faster than any item in the game. I see no problem with the knockback feature, as you can tilt your ship to accommodate for the incoming effect.

Emptying a clip may not take as long (only with max skills), but the travel time with the volleys easily makes up for that. As for your edit, Swarm Launchers don't easily kill Shielded Vehicles, and if you find that to be the case your either:

A.) Using an unfitted Saga or Onikuma
B.) Not using defensive modules of any kind
C.) Terrible at operating Assault Dropships

It's most obviously C, but I wouldn't be surprised if it was B as well.

Do you have an explanation as to why the Afterburner is unrelated? It currently allows Assault Dropships to evade every AV weapon in DUST with incredible ease, and can easily be fitted without sacrifice.

Considering how a Shield Hardener brings SL damage down to 558HP per volley, any Python with a Shield Extender to boot can survive well beyond the 3 Swarms. I hate to say it, but you may need to evaluate your skill.

If 3 hits on the Python are guaranteed, could you explain the countless videos where Pythons have easily evaded the 3rd shot? I can display them if you need be.

You can evade well before that happens, so yes it is a sacrifice because you have to run after any damage is taken, which is also boring and stupid.


535HP is not high damage. In fact, it's less than a STD Sleek AV Grenade. How mich shields do pythons have? 2550. How many shots is that? 5, what is the prupose of hardeners? To allow you to stay and tank damages so while I wait for my long cooldown to end, I can be easily killed and I run when I take damage if it's not std swarms.

I fail to see how that's a problem given how within the 8.11 seconds you have to live, you can easily escape 3x over, and 2 players with a concentrated effort should easily down your Python. This same rule applies to every other item in the game, and as such Pythons shouldn't be an exception.

You do know for a big thing in the sky that is a very easy target that doesn't seem long, as since you are in the air someone can shoot you out of nowhere, right?


A Lock Range will cause SLs to be imbalanced against HAVs and LAVs, and it won't matter if the speed of the SL isn't fast enough to keep up with it.

I myself have a serious question for this guy.

WHY is a shield booster so important to you???????????

It is arguably the weakest thing you can fit to your ADS. Are you telling me that a shield booster trumps a Hardener, Extender, OR a Afterburner?

It seems to me that you need dedicate a bit more SP to optimization. Or just more SP to vehicles in general.

I think I finally see how stupid we tankers looked back pre-Tankpocolypse....... wow it really was bad for us....

This has been enlightening. Thank you all.

Speaking of the AB on your dropship...... Speed Tanking is a thing and you can and often do make yourself invincible by not allowing yourself to be hit....