But of course the pilots are the most constructive group of people on the forum. We don't get kills or points or ISK, so everyone who is still flying is doing it purely for fun.

No creep but...

You sir are 2/3 wrong! Yes DS pilots don't get many if not any kills while piloting, but ISK and WP...I've made buttloads. Ever since Condor Squad started running some tight plans and squads, I've lost fewer DS and managed to get something in the range of 1500 WP a match. My gunners are getting around an average of 30 kills. And no I'm not talking about guys from the corp going for a good ol pub stomp, I'm talking just the guys over at Condor Squad.

The ISK is only in good supply when the DS doesn't die. That's my mental rhyme to prevent me from going broke.

No creep but...

You sir are 2/3 wrong! Yes DS pilots don't get many if not any kills while piloting, but ISK and WP...I've made buttloads. Ever since Condor Squad started running some tight plans and squads, I've lost fewer DS and managed to get something in the range of 1500 WP a match. My gunners are getting around an average of 30 kills. And no I'm not talking about guys from the corp going for a good ol pub stomp, I'm talking just the guys over at Condor Squad.

The ISK is only in good supply when the DS doesn't die. That's my mental rhyme to prevent me from going broke.

Yes the original idea for the red green light system was for the random blues in my dropship, however even with a good squad it would come in handy. Instead of jamming up coms or having that second delay with Bluetooth and people jumping out 2 seconds after you wanted them to. You could just hit the light and then they all know. I really like the view from the inside of the dropship and how you can look around inside, if you can look around and see your squad imagine how cool it would be to just be waiting for the green light, it lights up and boom your out with the rest of your squad.

I can understand why most of you would not like to see a dropship with pilot operated weapons, and yes maybe we should wait for a gunship class. Thought if they are gonna make those missile or gun mods for the gunship anyway, then why cant the dropship equip them too? maybe we have to sacrifice our shields or maybe we can only fit the light versions on that dont really do anything anyway.

Shouper of BHD, I do like a good buffer tank, however i like to go fast so i can only really fit two Azotopic

Just to add to what the OP said:

If things like flares radars etc become more likely there could add a basic autopilot to free up our hands for shield manipulation, map views and gunning our ship (auto could fly basic orbits, straight and level flight, or figure eights).

Adding some kind of visual obscuration (smoke, fog, low lying clouds) could help with the cheaply swarm launchers taking our investments out of the sky.

This game is EVE based, technically there shouldn't be many or any dividing lines. I personally think vehicles need to have capacitors and capacitor modules so that shield boosting/armor repping can be done like it is in EVE, which to means seems to make alot more sense than what dust has.

Many great ideas in here, one of which I would like to add to:

Passengers using their own weapons could be awesome but would turn you into a super OP flying death fortress. Instead I propose that the dropship's doors only open at low altitude or when in proximity to an objective. This way troops could defend themselves as they were leaving the ship.

I have to say I love the idea of the lights inside the dropship and I fully approve of more points for being a pilot. My idea for more points works in a similar manner to healing. You would receive points based on how long you are carrying troops. With a cap obviously so people couldnt farm it.

I disagree with you about the doors opening only at low altitude, it wouldn't make a huge amount of sense and it wouldnt turn you into a "super OP flying death fortress" either we would be just as vulnerable as before but now we would have to be stationary for our passengers to get decent aim. And your idea about a cap could work but we'd probably end up with dropships deliberately hanging back to get as much wp as they could before they drop people off

I agree with the OP's idea of a light so passengers know when to dismount. Too many times have I flown over an objective or hovered the ground near and my transports didn't get the hint that this was their stop. Since I have been flying, I haven't had the bay doors option work too well for me. I only notice them open and shut when I'm about 10m off the ground. That kinda defeats the purpose for the option, but I may be using it wrong. I also support the idea of receiving points based on transport of passengers based on time int he vehicle, not to exceed more than 4 mins. The timer starts only when passengers (not including the door gunners) enter the vehicle with a timer restart with every entry (max 4) and only restarts after all four passengers exit the vehicle.

I pilot and I'm happy with piloting the Dropships (DS). I would like to see Gunships (GS) once the game drops. It would help with clearing out any LZs and protect the DS, as well as, performing Close Air Support (CAS) missions as needed. GS should be a two pilot platform, Pilot & Weapons Officer (WO), with the pilot being capable of flying and firing unguided rockets. The WO really makes this GS work with a nose mounted traversable gun and guided rockets. I understand that I'm asking for more AA on the ground with the GS request but there are always ways to balance everything, whether it is staying at a distance to take out the AA or dismounting ground troops to deal with it. On the flip side, AA will have the ability to chew through the DS and GS in no time if unchecked.



Let me know what you think, as I know you will.

Raz, thank you for your thoughts and ideas. i hope that CCP blam can take the time to tell us if he will consider implementing the Light system. The bay doors dont open on our command (yet) they only open when you near the ground.
Having the points based on passenger time might actually hinder what dropship pilots are meant to do, they might try and just fly around with people to farm WP. Im still with Irish Syn's idea, if they implement the light system then you could get say +25 when people jump out when you turn the light to green.

Gunships would be a very good feature, you might be interested in this concept art. Fighter? Gunship? i dunno but it looks fun!
Im sure that CCP has had alot of concept and ideas for the other ariel vehicles, a gunship would be right at home in this universe. I think the Gunship should be pretty deadly to vehicles and the chin mounted auto cannon would be deadly against infantry, however it should be relatively frail compared to its dropship counterpart, cant take much sustained fire, but can dish it out 2x as much.

Jack, you can also get WP from crushing enemies with your dropship, i actually got a double kill by doing this, and was awarded alot more that game then i usually get flying around in skirmish

[FEEDBACK] Thoughts from a humble underpaid pilot - making the dropship more fun to fly.
Update: collision models are being improved and new features for the dropship are being planned.

Sheilds dont make you go slower. I only fly the glorious caldari dropships, try putting an afterburner on your ship and behold the glory of speed tanking!

Read this, decided to skill up and give it a try.

Got in drop ship. Had fun with first use of booster. Uncontrollably flew into magically appearing vehicle dropper and exploded on second use.

Not trying that again.