No

1) It's been confirmed that the next build will bring some manner of "transport" bonus for dropships. Not sure if it'll apply to LAVs, but then I'm not sure what the intended role for an LAV is so I'm not sure what actions should earn a LAV driver points.

2) Gunships are coming eventually too. Not likely in this next build, at least not as far as I know, but eventually.

3) Electronic Warfare is coming. I think some of it is coming next build. The Grimesnes and (I would imagine) the Myron will eventually get eWar bonuses. I bet there will be points in that.

Nope

No man, no.

I'd rather have more tanking honestly

My people, for builds we have been oppressed. We toil for our vehicle yet the passengers earn more sp than us.

What I'm suggesting IS NOT a full replacement of a gunship, just a weaker alternative

Give lavs and dropships a madrugar tier in which the driver controls a small turret at the cost of troop capacity (or like tank madrugars as an overall improvement)

...and the skies are full of mid-tier dropships hovering behind every conceivable obstacle lobbing missiles at CRUs, choke points, etc. Maybe make it so it has no side turrets and 4 passengers. So...it'd just be a faster, unarmored, small turreted flying tank with some extra troop capacity. So it'd need an armour/shield and speed nerf to go with that driver-controlled turret.

LAVs...well, maybe. It'll let you carry exactly one other passenger. Who couldn't shoot anything. So...it'd just be a faster, unarmored, small turreted tank. So it'd need an armour/shield and speed nerf to go with that driver-controlled turret.

The turret accounts for a smaller occupancy and it wouldn't need to account for more

Oh, I dunno. An extra turret mean extra DPS. 100% more for the LAV. That's a lot to consider...I don't think any different levels of turret (i.e. militia turret v. prototype turret) have a 100% increase in damage. The 50% bonus to a DS is still considerable. That's a lot of extra bonus for no real-ingame disadvantage. I mean, really. How many times have the four passengers make or break you as a player? How many times has the mute shotgun passenger helped your LAV come through on top?

You'd essentially be significantly increasing the killing ability of two major vehicle classes AND giving them an ability to operate offensively unilaterally (i.e., without teamwork) without offering any situational minuses. Same tank, same speed, more damage. And then there comes the fact that the entire reason they exist is to drop off troops or allow quick navigation of the battlefield.

...so you are, in fact, proposing a militia gunship and a militia "MAV" - somewhere between an LAV and a Tank.

It would involve the removing of the non pilot controlled turrets but adding dual guns to increase singular dps and extra people do help when one navigates while the rest rack up war points like nothing

Ah, so...no other turrets other than the turret the driver controls? That wasn't in the OP.

And if the driver is controlling dual turrets, you still have the 100% and 50% DPS buff.

And sure, secondary turrets can be a huge boon. But I was talking about the other 4 guys in the back who just stand there and the mute shotgun passenger (I mentioned him specifically).

So, now the suggestion is an LAV/DS with two turrets, both controlled by the driver. Together, they will put out the same or more DPS as the main large tank turret, but have a faster ROF as is the case with all small turrets, meaning that DPS can be brought to bear more accurately against infantry. Same tank, same speed. This is still sounding like an MAV/gunship to me, rather than a small 'upgrade' to the LAV. It'd be equivalent to Madrugars having two main turrets. Or actually, the DPS increase there would be less significant than in the LAV/DS cases. Make that three main turrets for the Madrugar.

To give the DS/LAVs a "Magrugar-like" ability would be to give them:
- one extra slot
- small (10% to 15%) buff to shield/armor

That's what the mid-tier tanks have over their militia brethren. No extra damage buffs (unless one uses a module), no extra turrets.

As a dropship pilot, I think this is a bad idea. This will just turn vehicles that are supposed to be transports into gunships. I would much rather wait until real gunships, as those will likely be what you and I are looking for.

I'm not only looking for a temporary replacement, but a permanant mid way in which we get some aspects of both

Sure, except that with gunners the dropship as it is now fulfills the gunship role relatively well. If anything, the dropship guns should take a 0.7 multiplier with a boost to health to encourage transport rather than gunning. Once the dropship is properly oriented to its role, then maybe I could see a fast maneuverable lightly armed air vehicle halfway between transport and attack roles.

[quote=Encharrion]Who dictated that aircraft are meant only for hauling infantry? This is nonsensical fiction. Where in military history is this like this? The first military aircraft were combat vehicles, not troop carriers.

They were actually for reconnaissance but whatever...