Not sure if its been posted but you cant fly upside down for any length of time to make it worthwhile. Dropship just dont have da power which is a shame

Would love it if they fixed this so I could really confuse my gunners.

Main reason I was trying this was to get the dam wingy bits out the way and give better firing arcs to the gunners.

This thread has made me love being a dropship pilot again!! I was able to use my DS for 3 games in a row until I happened upon moronic gunners that, long story short, got me killed. Great stuff in this thread!

Thanks for the endorsement. I am very happy to hear that we haved helped train another pilot.

Please consider stopping by the 0k0d channel in chat to find gunners and talk to other pilots. Even if there aren't any dedicated gunners in the channel other pilots might want to trade off lying and gunning with you.

Are there currently skills that I as a Gunner can invest in to make me a better gunner? In Halo3 I was a pretty dedicated Warthog driver, but I have learned that driving (or in this case, flying) in Dust is much more difficult, and until I am able to spend the time to really train myself in it I make a pretty decent gunner.

Ramblings.

TL;DR
Are there gunner skills?

1. Mass Effects: I've noticed that some form of mass is simulated, and my susp[icion is that mass is tied to total armor value. Higher armor=more mass. That's why attempts to ram Caldari ships with a Gallente are awesome, but the reverse is not so much. Slap some nanofibers on all a Gallente's low slots, and suddenly a sneezing can flip your ship. Always remember that stability and responsiveness are opposites; Armor value has the strongest effect, with nanofibers directly seeming to reduce mass.

So I finally got a chance to sit down and play for a couple hours. I devoted that time to fielding cheap vipers and trying to fly them at high speed and low altitudes to get practice avoiding swarms. Has not been going well. I don't think the problem is the doctrine, I just haven't gotten the hang of the precise flying involved. Plus swarms are still super popular.

Also, I managed to get really bad latency problems in a game that featured two guys with forge guns. Being stopped dead in front of guys with forge guns is not good for a dropship's structural integrity.

My thought process is that by flying low I have obstacles between me and incoming swarms, so dodging becomes s pretty minor issue. Y'know, in theory.

Go back and reread the "Physics of Dropship Flight" post on page one. There I describe how a dropship is basically a brick held up by thrust from underneath. There is no wing to hold you up. When you flip the brick upside down you are now thrusting DOWN and aiding gravity in its quest to invite you into a new clone body. A more powerful engine would only speed up the process.

Dodge forges.

Try it.

I DARE YOU!

Also, I managed to get really bad latency problems in a game that featured two guys with forge guns. Being stopped dead in front of guys with forge guns is not good for a dropship's structural integrity.

Skihids has this thread been linked in the new Training forum? Seems like it would fit right in there and be easier to locate for Mercs new to piloting.

Cheers,
Cross

can you compare the dropship flight to helicopter flight in battlefield 3?

Slightly turn the analog stick and fly in a big circle
????????
Profit

First off, thanks for the advice! It's helped me immensely in figuring out the flying mechanics the last few days. I've found that flying is actually one of my favorite things to do in this game, which might not have been the case if my first experience with it was flipping the bird upside down and crashing into a mountain.

I'm curious if your build advice still stands? I'm running a Myron at the moment as well, but I've been hearing that some recent patches changed dropship damage capabilities, missiles specifically. That and some posts seem to paint this as a horrible time to be a pilot.

I'm also curious what kind of dropsuit you'd recommend as a pilot, since they haven't instituted pilot suits yet. I've just been running as a Logi when I'm on the ground or when I find myself trying to conserve ISK. Does it even matter at all?