Skihids wrote:I've put some thought into this and realized that while a dropship could function as a taxi for singletons or pairs, that's not a game changer. LAVs can handle the simple transportation needs of one to three mercs.
What a dropship does that no other vehicle can do is insert a large enough organized force onto an objective to take it from a well determined enemy. LAVs and hikers can only arrive after being exposed to fire and typically must navigate one or two easily defended choke points. A dropship can arrive overhead and insert up to six heavies with HMG's right on target. That is the true power of a dropship.
But that is also its weakness. It is a weakness because it requires an organized squad of seven including the pilot to make it effective. The current squad limit of four results in one pilot and three attackers, hardly enough to take an objective away from a team that wants to keep it. All three would be fighting constantly and not have an opportunity to start the hack to prevent reinforcments from arriving.
The ideal force would likely consist of five heavies, a logi, and the pilot. The pilot could wear a logi suit, but I suspect the pilot suit would be a better choice once it arrives. The five would jump and take the objective while the logi used a turret to prevent reinforcements from arriving, then jump out and res, heal, and resuply before the pilot lands and picks them up to repeat.
But that force won't magically appear from a bunch of random blue dots. Truely dedicated pilots would fly without reward, but we can't deliver what doesn't exist. The dropship is nerfed because it's true weapon doesn't exist. They require an organized force of seven to operate. That could be an enlarged squad or a pair of four man squads.
Keep in mind that there is that couple of seconds where you can't do anything after landing with an intertia dampener, leaving you exposed, and two turrets facing opposition directions (even though you propose only one gunner) aren't going to do too much suppressive fire with the missile nerfs.
Also to counter you argument, sometimes there is a common invisible language that most people respond to. Drop six blues off over an enemy objective, they will take it but the invisible language is limited and people will disperse instead of hold it so conclusively squads
are the way to go. But blues aren't completely useless, just some.
Also my ideal squad would consist of 2 heavies, 2 shot gun scouts, 2 logis, and the pilot. The great contrast between heavies and scouts gives this squad more versatility. But that's off topic.
Pilot commission should be based on something like the # of troops dropped, the # kills turrets get, change in position (for the amount of time you save your team/corp and the protection granted by a dropship) and but a majority of commission should come from op suggestion.