Picture this: You're flying along in your 1.2 Million ISK Assault Dropship from your base over to your squad mates, in hopes of aiding them from the sky. Finally, after a long and dangerous flight of blowing up installations in fear of an enemy using one to shoot you down, you reach your squad members and start raining fire from above. You balance your ship above your squad mates and shoot down three hostile targets with the front-mounted missile turret. You're about to get a fourth kill when suddenly, an enemy trooper with a CBR7 Swarm Launcher takes out 1/4 of your shield. You get the hint, they don't want you there. You pan your ship left and right, desperately in search of the swarmer. Bang. Shields at 50%. You react by activating your Shield Booster, hopefully in time to boost your reps by the time you find him. A third volley slams into your hull but you have no idea where the swarm came, they're too faint or almost invisible to see. You make the wise decision to abandon your squad mates and gain some altitude. You evade the pestering swarm launchers fourth volley and get out of his range. Your squad starts coming into some heavy enemy fire. You've had enough time repping your shields off-grid, you want to get back into the fight. You decide to head back into the battlefield with around 75% shields. You've just returned to your squadrons position and open fire upon the troops below, but before you get that evasive scout, your armour is at 50%. You have no idea what has happened. In despair, you attempt to activate your shield repair but you know it's already too late. You try to accelerate away, only to find your ship in flames and heading for the ground. You bail while your ship explodes in a fiery ball of death, rewarding you -90 WP's for 'Python Destruction' and as you try to gauge your situation, a 9K330 forge gun round hits your position, sending you into the next dimension.

Storytime over. How can a 6,585 ISK Swarm Launcher that only takes less than a million SP pin down a 1.2 million ISK ship worth over a 3million SP that easily? Or the fast firing forge gun that does 1.5k damage (base) with a 3.5 second charge time? That's barely any time for the pilot to accelerate away and try rep their shields.

Not to mention that the infantry have the advantage of being 1) smaller targets, 2) able to use most cover to their advatange 3)
are very hard to see from most distance, including their tags only showing up from a pitiful few yards.

Give the Dropships a buff like every other vehicle did, because they're the vehicles that needed it the most, yet as matter of fact, today they got 'nerfed' as pointed out in various other threads (source: https://forums.dust514.com/default.aspx?g=posts&t=76984&find=unread and https://forums.dust514.com/default.aspx?g=posts&t=76963&find=unread)

On the other hand, I do greatly appreciate the new handling / speed increases, but there is still more work to be done on them, including the WP's for mobile CRU spawns (which can be exploit-proof easily with certain limitations).

Oh I have had times where im hovering over land and all of a sudden my ship goes from 100% health to exploding for no apparent reason, like I have crashed into something invisible.

I do hope CCP improve the situation for dropships.

From a dedicated dropship pilot: swarms are fine.

Your story sounds pretty balanced. Plenty of time to respond, take evasive maneuvers, etc.

This is the real story:

Call in dropship. Get it in dropship. Take off. Everything looks quite, fly a little closer to the battle. Still quiet. BOOM forge gun hit. Crap where did that come from!? Turn on module. Come on activate activate activate Try to change direction. This is like reversing a cruise ship. BOOM forge gun hit.Burning damage. Dead. 1 MIL ISK out the window.

So you're telling us that you do not like being taken out by something that is designed to take you out?

*head explodes*

So you're telling us that you do not like being taken out by something that is designed to take you out?

*head explodes*

No i'm telling you that I do not like being taken out by something that is designed to take me out THAT EASILY.

We have no problem with dying to AV, we expect it. We can't stand being taken out so quickly and with no recourse, oh and the fact that we get crappy rewards for putting huge amounts on the line.

I take issue with being destroyed effortlessly in faster time than can be physically reacted to. By a dirt cheap or free gun. By someone with little or no SP. While my vehicle cost 1.5 million and 10 million in SP.

And while such a person if not destroying me instantly, can deny me any usefulness on the whole map for an entire game.


Bloody brilliant way to balance AV guys.

I take issue with being destroyed effortlessly in faster time than can be physically reacted to. By a dirt cheap or free gun. By someone with little or no SP. While my vehicle cost 1.5 million and 10 million in SP.

And while such a person if not destroying me instantly, can deny me any usefulness on the whole map for an entire game.


Bloody brilliant way to balance AV guys.

The real kicker here is that dropships actually have less relative survivability than a dropsuit. Can you imagine how much complaining there would be if half the STD anti-infantry weapons could drop prototype suits as quickly and effortlessly as forge guns take out dropships?

Here you go all you trolls.

Read this and shove it in your pie hole. Stuff gets blown up

Life isn't fair


TL;DR
$111,000,000 plane gets shot down by SAM Site in Serbia, probably costing about $38,000

Infantry (most,not all) don't give a **** about anything but suits/infantry weapons, any else either doesn't matter or is "OP". Only vehicles they ever complain about is tanks, and that's when they're highly effective at their jobs, if not a tad OP, and even then they complain that their militia grade weaponry can't kill high level tanks quickly, like you could in battlefield.

You're not a very smart man.

game balance =/= real life. Try again. Let's be realistic! All the technology is dust is made up/impossible. Now we have to remove it all and play CoD

Is a derpship supposed to provide overhead protection or just deploy a squad then bug out?

To me a DROPship, drops off troops and leaves, not tries to tank overhead. IMHO

Is a derpship supposed to provide overhead protection or just deploy a squad then bug out?

To me a DROPship, drops off troops and leaves, not tries to tank overhead. IMHO

Then why did CCP give it a THIRD turret? If they pilot is busy bugging out how the hell is he supposed to use it?

I think the balance is fine. I like laughing at DS pilots who spend lots of money and get shot down. I don't fly expensive dropships and if you do, then I am thinking you might be pointing the "dumb" finger the wrong direction.

Is a derpship supposed to provide overhead protection or just deploy a squad then bug out?

To me a DROPship, drops off troops and leaves, not tries to tank overhead. IMHO

well, OP, you died cause you didnt use your single advantage. Mobility. if you stay where you are and try and find the AV guy, your dumb. you call out over comms that there is swarm launcher, as you bug the hell out. once your infantry find the guy you come in, and kill it.

and yes, proto suits do die to militia weapons if they dont move. seriously, im not sure the cycle time on a CRB-7 swarm off the top of my head, but i bet a Militia AR or SMG can dump its entire magazine in the time it took the first to swarms to lock on and hit you, and that will kill the crap outta even a super tanked logi/heavy if he is not moving.

Assault DS base price. 700,000
3 turrets, 700,000

starting price: 1.5 mill. Yeah lets throw the cheapest modules on that, seems a smart way to more easily waste the heavy part of the cost.
Yeah, I totally wrote that price tag or had any choice in the matter.

I think you nailed it. There's no reason to fly at all for that price. Which is why this game could use some actual balance in regard to dropships, they are clearly ignored.

that is true, i am not going to even attempt to say the Dropship is in a good place role wise right now. just that AV is at a decent balance with them. if you slap the burners and move swarms will not likely kill you. now proto triple complex damaged modded forge gun wielding heavy, yes, he will layout the smacking, but he has also invested largely into dedicated AV, he should be able to seriously hurt the weakest of vehicles. again, if the pilot is moving, and the forge gunner can hit him, that is damn good shot.

just for emphasis, i agree the role and WP mechanic of DS's needs to be looked at.

Yeah gotta agree with you there, it's just how you can be one-two'd in before you can do anything which is incredibly frustrating.

I am a dedicated Forge Gunner, I run Ishukone Assualt and DAU-2 Assualt. When I see a Dropship I usually dont sweat it cause it either takes 1 or 2 shots to destroy, UNLESS its an expensive dropship. High tier and even standard Dropships.with good modules give me a run, I need at least 3 to 4 shots for these ships. After the first shot hits they can usually get away if the map allows them. What im trying to say is that Dropships need ALOT of buffs, to shield/armor and to acceleration and the miltia/standard could use an SP and Isk price reduction. You guys need to ask for that. But the way your all talking CCP will nerf the Forge Gun and not only do we not need anymore nerfs, the Forge Gun especially does not need nerfs.

I am a dedicated Forge Gunner, I run Ishukone Assualt and DAU-2 Assualt. When I see a Dropship I usually dont sweat it cause it either takes 1 or 2 shots to destroy, UNLESS its an expensive dropship. High tier and even standard Dropships.with good modules give me a run, I need at least 3 to 4 shots for these ships. After the first shot hits they can usually get away if the map allows them. What im trying to say is that Dropships need ALOT of buffs, to shield/armor and to acceleration and the miltia/standard could use an SP and Isk price reduction. You guys need to ask for that. But the way your all talking CCP will nerf the Forge Gun and not only do we not need anymore nerfs, the Forge Gun especially does not need nerfs.

I am a dedicated Forge Gunner, I run Ishukone Assualt and DAU-2 Assualt. When I see a Dropship I usually dont sweat it cause it either takes 1 or 2 shots to destroy, UNLESS its an expensive dropship. High tier and even standard Dropships.with good modules give me a run, I need at least 3 to 4 shots for these ships. After the first shot hits they can usually get away if the map allows them. What im trying to say is that Dropships need ALOT of buffs, to shield/armor and to acceleration and the miltia/standard could use an SP and Isk price reduction. You guys need to ask for that. But the way your all talking CCP will nerf the Forge Gun and not only do we not need anymore nerfs, the Forge Gun especially does not need nerfs.

We aren't needed, so we aren't wanted, and therefore we get the crap end of the stick.

We might as well fly kites for all the good we can do and all the rewards we can reap for it.

I love flying, but I toss a DU and a hive down before running off to call in my ship so I can get some WPs. I can make the middle of the leaderboard often by that action.

As it stands DUST is a non-tactical, non-strategic lobby shooter where most players lone-wolf it. I was initially sold on the game based on the promise of real team play, but there is jack all need for it in its current incarnation. I went into piloting with the assumption that pilots would offer corporations a strategic advantage, and I wanted to be the best.

For all the lore, there is really only two roles that matter in this game. Free Beers called when he said if you aren't Assault or Logi-killer you I'll be useless in PC. It's the guy with the gun and his sidekick medic that matter, the rest is window dressing.

You can mess around with WP rewards, but that won't matter one scintilla until you alter the basic game play to require real tactics and strategy beyond "get there first" and "shoot first with the biggest gun".

Frankly I find that simple minded repetitive play boring. I can't see how it would keep anyone occupied this long.

I was against AFKers, but the irony is that is exactly how effective I am while flying. I may as well "fly" the MCC as my dropship for all the good it does my team.

Is a derpship supposed to provide overhead protection or just deploy a squad then bug out?

To me a DROPship, drops off troops and leaves, not tries to tank overhead. IMHO

EXACTLY! Dropships are transportation vehicles first and foremost. You fly in, pick up soldiers, drop off at point whatever, then fly away to repeat the process.


Dropships are NOT sky tanks. The turrets are to cover the troops getting dropped off! Not to wage war on ground pawns.

You're about to get a fourth kill when suddenly, an enemy trooper with a CBR7 Swarm Launcher takes out 1/4 of your shield. You get the hint, they don't want you there. You pan your ship left and right, desperately in search of the swarmer. Bang. Shields at 50%.

You make the wise decision to abandon your squad mates and gain some altitude. You evade the pestering swarm launchers fourth volley and get out of his range.

You've had enough time repping your shields off-grid, you want to get back into the fight. You decide to head back into the battlefield with around 75% shields.

How can a 6,585 ISK Swarm Launcher that only takes less than a million SP pin down a 1.2 million ISK ship worth over a 3million SP that easily? Or the fast firing forge gun that does 1.5k damage (base) with a 3.5 second charge time? That's barely any time for the pilot to accelerate away and try rep their shields.

Not to mention that the infantry have the advantage of being 1) smaller targets, 2) able to use most cover to their advatange 3) are very hard to see from most distance, including their tags only showing up from a pitiful few yards.

Im an experienced forge gunner, have been since the E3 build. and dropships just arent fun to shoot anymore. There is no challenge, no adrenaline rush when trying to take 1 out. I took out a logi dropship with 2 shots yesterday, i actually felt bad for the pilot. I dont fly them, i just kill them and i can say they are too easy to kill.

i suggest lowering the damage of forge and rail done to dropships in the air. ccp could come up with some bullshit that the thin air reduces the shots damage the higher dropships fly.

I'm not sure how easy it is to aim a forge, but any pilot worth his wings is going to remain mobile in order to be a difficult target for dumbfire weapons in the first place.

One thing worth mentioning is that an afterburner can drop that "6-7 seconds" down to "1-3 seconds". This is, of course, infeasible for shield dropship pilots as they would have to sacrifice an extender, and thus a very large portion of their survivability, but for those of us that went armor it's a life saver. Doubly so, in fact, thanks to the top-speed and momentum penalties that come with plating.

Guys, just give it up.

There is no place in DUST for pilots. There is no mission that can't be better accomplished with an Assault suit and an AR.

The sole mission in DUST is to kill, so get yourself a beefy suit and a rifle. It's the only thing that is rewarded.

Storytime over. How can a 6,585 ISK Swarm Launcher that only takes less than a million SP pin down a 1.2 million ISK ship worth over a 3million SP that easily? Or the fast firing forge gun that does 1.5k damage (base) with a 3.5 second charge time? That's barely any time for the pilot to accelerate away and try rep their shields.

4. Introduce falloff damage to forge guns and tweak back their optimal range, making them nasty killers at close to medium range, and more support / harassment at long ranges.

5. Replace rail gun installations in all red zones with an equal or greater number of missile turrets. (this is more of a random thought without having to actually touch how rail guns work in general, as I don't know how that can be adjusted, I just know they're insanely effective vs dropships for extremely little effort or risk)

Well, in modern warfare (Not any video games but in real life) how can a Stinger Missile shoot down enemy aircraft with just one shot? How can a Javilin Missile take down Tanks with its warhead? I know this setting is in the "future" so I understand that vehicles are built more durable and high tech, but so as the Infantry weapons made to counter them, specially in the EVE universe, where the arms race of four powerful empires is always at full throttle, trying to find the cheapest counter.

The problem with this argument is that it can be applied to every gun in the game. If this is your argument, then it follows that you are arguing that basically every weapon should OHK all infantry as well.

so basically...


>dropship get nerf
>pilot get mad
>ccp dont give
>pilot rage on fourm
>other pilots join rage on fourm
>all non pilots dont give
>pilot leave butt hurty
>end story

OMG... AV too good? Really? Do you realize that the players who go AV are sacrificing their ability to effectively deal with infantry engagements. And the FG lost a lot of range when heavy weapon sharp shooter got removed. I've heard that the standard FG is locked at 300 meters now but I can't verify that.

Where's the infantry support for you pilots? While I'm running my FG, I'm hell on vehicles but have to rely on my SMG for infantry encounters. Yep. That's right, an SMG. Don't get me wrong, I've done my fair share of forge sniping but that takes distance and elevation to be consistent and it still takes a lot of luck with the increased dispersion. It's very difficult up close and personal. Otherwise, my squad supplies over watch and tactical intel to help me keep my fat slow butt alive and fighting.

There are many times when I've hit pilots with my 9K330. I manage to rap out two or three shots before they've out ranged me and come back repped. Meanwhile I have to run around dodging enemy infantry. Does this bug me? Hell no. I expect it. However, if I start pounding you with my 9K330 and you just sit there, or fly straight at me like a few have done, don't expect any sympathy as I turn your ds into burning slag.

One last thing, I can rarely take out a DS or HAV that's well supported by infantry unless I'm in a really advantageous position, and those are hard to get into.

Then you are bad at forge gun.

3 shots from an 9K330 will take out any dropship in the game, most in 2, and OHKs all infantry.

It may seem as though my post is mere frustration, but I assure you it is not.

I've had a good long look at the game as it stands, and it is quite apparent that there is but one role, that of slayer.

The game does not need Scouts, Transports, Reconisance, or any non-high-DPS fitting.
The way to win is to shoot the other guy in the face before he shoots you in the face.
The game play really is that shallow right now.

There are no tactics beyond that and there is certainly no strategy required. Ambush is straight up mass killing with no pretense at anything else. Skirmish is Ambush with Null Cannons for decoration. There is some reward for hacking one, but absolutley nothing to be gained for defending it. That means that if the battle front is far from the cannon, it will be abandoned so the player can get some points for killing. There is no need for transport because it's easy to get to the front by walking.

The only way to make dropships worth flying in matches where winning counts is to turn them into gunships, and the player population is not ready to accecpt a gunship that can put out that kind of DPS. Just look at the ADS thread with the tanker's buddy crying about how the light blaster turret blew up his "proto" tank for a taste of what you would see in a dozen threads.

Until CCP introduces a requirement for dropships, some need that is better served by air, the dropship will be a solution looking for a problem.

Yes, with some help we could possibly fly around and not lose money, but that would just be us having fun. We wouldn't be doing anything that would get us invited to PC battles where every clone has to bring high-DPS to win.

Hey, guys, turns out we're all just awful pilots. Turns out if we put Baal in a dropship he'd just get infinity kills and never die and make us all look like tools. Well, problem solved, I guess. I'll just go back to failing to ever satisfy a woman.

Boy, I wish that last sentence was as sarcastic as the others.

Oh, yeah, totally. Because I just got through sharing how EPIC I am at flying a DS..... No, tactics are tactics, and if you are dumb enough to fly into AV when you know it's there, who do you blame? THE AV! Of coooooourse! It's the AV's fault for capitalizing on your bad judgement! Ah, I should have grasped it long ago....

Actually your right, if you fly into AV you basically deserve to get shot down. Problem is forge guns killing you before you even know that they're there.

IMO, dropships, maps and AV need significant changes.
1. bigger maps so dropships are important
2.larger teams so the maps can be filled(and huge air raids would be sick)
3.countermeasures for dropships
4.faster missiles to counter the countermeasures(and make it more realistic)
5.WP tweaks for dropships
6.more hp for dropships
7. make an assault varient for the missile turret that fires similar to the missile installation, so ADSs can hit things while remaining accurate
8. the dedicated dropships should have a docking mode when on the ground where all damage is reduced by 10% so they can pick up teammates in the midst of battle without being destroyed

No, you got it all wrong...see your tactics will allow you to know that they are there....just forget about the rendering issues at times...

Oh, yeah, totally. Because I just got through sharing how EPIC I am at flying a DS..... No, tactics are tactics, and if you are dumb enough to fly into AV when you know it's there, who do you blame? THE AV! Of coooooourse! It's the AV's fault for capitalizing on your bad judgement! Ah, I should have grasped it long ago....

What I hate most is that I rarely get my dropship destroyed directly from enemy fire. 87% of the time it's because the railgun, FG, Swarms, push me all the way into oblivion and push me off into an obstruction.
That's what pisses me off the most.

Then you are bad at forge gun.

3 shots from an 9K330 will take out any dropship in the game, most in 2, and OHKs all infantry. The 9K330 does more splash damage than a direct hit from an EXO mass driver, with basically the same radius, and TWICE the splash damage.

Don't you mean magical psychic powers ?

Sans rendering issues fact still remains that one FG could be anywhere on the map at any time. And that's all it takes to trounce you. Two is just simply unfair.

I guess I'll just go tell my infantry to scour the whole SqKm of the map and find this little fellow before anyone knows he exists. Right?

I'm not a pro player and I will never claim to be. So no, I don't land every shot, but I work well with my corp squad and they like having a dedicated AV on the team.

I believe 9K330 has a 1.5 meter radius, I think the MDs have 3.3. I'm not too sure as I'm more interested in a direct hit with the FG and I've never used a MD. But yes, 3 hits usually has a high end DS on fire. Low to mids still take two to three to bring down. But I have had DS targets bolt on the first hit, take a second, then were out of range by either climbing or speeding off. You guys don't all fit your DS the same. LOL

I am a dedicated Forge Gunner, I run Ishukone Assualt and DAU-2 Assualt. When I see a Dropship I usually dont sweat it cause it either takes 1 or 2 shots to destroy, UNLESS its an expensive dropship. High tier and even standard Dropships.with good modules give me a run, I need at least 3 to 4 shots for these ships. After the first shot hits they can usually get away if the map allows them. What im trying to say is that Dropships need ALOT of buffs, to shield/armor and to acceleration and the miltia/standard could use an SP and Isk price reduction. You guys need to ask for that. But the way your all talking CCP will nerf the Forge Gun and not only do we not need anymore nerfs, the Forge Gun especially does not need nerfs.

The 9K330 splash radius is 0.3 meters smaller than the EXO (realistically, they are for most intents and purposes the same), and it's splash damage does just under twice the damage of the EXO's splash. And to reiterate, the splash on the 9k330 does as much damage as the direct damage of the EXO. A direct hit with the 9K330 is an OHK on every dropsuit in the game.

I assure you, I've fit every combination possible with DSs, and YES we basically all use the same fits because our PG has been nerfed so far that there are only 2 or 3 viable options for each model that a competent pilot would ever actually fly. The most tanked out dropship cannot survive 3 shots from a 9K330 without, at best, being DEEP into burning damage. You have to understand, that USUALLY you don't get the notification of a kill, because when burning damage takes us out we either get charged with a team kill or a suicide. You see the guy fly away after that 3rd shot, and if you don't pay attention to their escape, you'll likely never know that they crashed and burned trying to pull off a hot landing with a rep tool.

Coming from both sides of the argument having both a character that runs vehicles including DS and a character that is heavily speced into FG AV I know how this feels from both sides.

On one hand we have the DS that is supposed to be used by a team tactically which does not seem to be anywhere in the game right now other than bringing people to rooftops or allowing for MCRU on the new domination maps. As a pilot it sucks to be shot down, It feels bad to lose something you worked so hard to get just to be shot down by militia gear, and that is one thing I cannot stand is being shot by militia gear that takes no skill what so ever to use. However credit is due when i get hit by proto swarms or a proto forge gun because they are spending those SP to take me down its part of their job and I understand it. However we should get countermeasures to these things like warning sounds when a forge gun locks onto us or flares to negate 1 shot of swarms every 30 seconds. Just something to help us actually be of some use.

Looking at it from the AV side I've spent about 6m SP purely into getting forge gun skills up. So yes when I pull out my proto breach FG and I one shot your DS because it only has 2000 HP I do feel bad because it was so easy but it also is partly your fault, as a DS pilot if I am hit by a FG or I see a blue explosion near me ill run away and know where to stay away from. Too many pilots come straight at me like I'm not going to shoot them again. As AV I have no other job than to take down vehicles so yes when you being them out I will make it my job to shoot you down.

Looking at it objectively AV does not need a nerf it needs a different scaling system militia swarms do the same amount of damage as prototypes so those should be reduced and DS health should also be buffed slightly so that its not as easy to take one down. However if you are flying shield or use any type of shield vehicle they are broken and I would recommend switching to armor, who cares if they are slower it's barely noticeable now and I rarely lose my DS anymore after making the switch hardeners save my life 9 times out of 10.

Picture this: You're flying along in your 1.2 Million ISK Assault Dropship from your base over to your squad mates, in hopes of aiding them from the sky. Finally, after a long and dangerous flight of blowing up installations in fear of an enemy using one to shoot you down, you reach your squad members and start raining fire from above. You balance your ship above your squad mates and shoot down three hostile targets with the front-mounted missile turret. You're about to get a fourth kill when suddenly, an enemy trooper with a CBR7 Swarm Launcher takes out 1/4 of your shield. You get the hint, they don't want you there. You pan your ship left and right, desperately in search of the swarmer. Bang. Shields at 50%. You react by activating your Shield Booster, hopefully in time to boost your reps by the time you find him. A third volley slams into your hull but you have no idea where the swarm came, they're too faint or almost invisible to see. You make the wise decision to abandon your squad mates and gain some altitude. You evade the pestering swarm launchers fourth volley and get out of his range. Your squad starts coming into some heavy enemy fire. You've had enough time repping your shields off-grid, you want to get back into the fight. You decide to head back into the battlefield with around 75% shields. You've just returned to your squadrons position and open fire upon the troops below, but before you get that evasive scout, your armour is at 50%. You have no idea what has happened. In despair, you attempt to activate your shield repair but you know it's already too late. You try to accelerate away, only to find your ship in flames and heading for the ground. You bail while your ship explodes in a fiery ball of death, rewarding you -90 WP's for 'Python Destruction' and as you try to gauge your situation, a 9K330 forge gun round hits your position, sending you into the next dimension.

Storytime over. How can a 6,585 ISK Swarm Launcher that only takes less than a million SP pin down a 1.2 million ISK ship worth over a 3million SP that easily? Or the fast firing forge gun that does 1.5k damage (base) with a 3.5 second charge time? That's barely any time for the pilot to accelerate away and try rep their shields.

Not to mention that the infantry have the advantage of being 1) smaller targets, 2) able to use most cover to their advatange 3)
are very hard to see from most distance, including their tags only showing up from a pitiful few yards.

Give the Dropships a buff like every other vehicle did, because they're the vehicles that needed it the most, yet as matter of fact, today they got 'nerfed' as pointed out in various other threads (source: https://forums.dust514.com/default.aspx?g=posts&t=76984&find=unread and https://forums.dust514.com/default.aspx?g=posts&t=76963&find=unread)

On the other hand, I do greatly appreciate the new handling / speed increases, but there is still more work to be done on them, including the WP's for mobile CRU spawns (which can be exploit-proof easily with certain limitations).

Um yeah. I like your post except for one thing. FGs don't lock onto target. They're entirely manual aim. So if they let the DS have a warning that a FG is aimed at them, then troopers should get a warning any time any manually aimed weapon is aimed at them.

Is a derpship supposed to provide overhead protection or just deploy a squad then bug out?

To me a DROPship, drops off troops and leaves, not tries to tank overhead. IMHO

Cheap weapons can quickly destroy very expensive vehicles. That's the fact of the matter in present, so I don't see why it would change in the future.

The drop ships are pretty much the helicopters of the future. A $20 million AH-64 attack helicopter can be easily dispatched by an SA-7 (cheap russian shoulder fired anti aircraft missile)that you could probably buy for a couple thousand bucks.

That's the way it should be, too. But drop ship weapons should be much more effective against infantry.

They shouldn't be very survivable, if someone whips out some AA missiles, as a DS driver you should be sh*tting your pants. Likewise you should mop up unprepared enemies.

What I think the DS needs is less survivability, in all honesty, but they also need some kind of expendable countermeasures that the swarms could bite off on if deployed in a timely manner. Like the flares and chaff we have in today's aircraft. And after you sh*t out all your expendables, you need to swing by a supply depot to reload them before you continue on in battle.

I realize this I was more thinking of swarms when I was writing this and put down the FG but there should be some warning system for FG,or at least make it so the mods have a faster rep time, why should FG be able to already have their second charge ready by the time I have activated my repper and am waiting for it to turn on. If their skill works on reaction time why shouldn't ours, as a forge gunner I can be using an assault FG on top of a building and wipe a DS before it even knew it had been hit.

ITS A LIGHT AIR VEHICLE.

Its the god damn lav of air vehicles.

if I sit in a lav in the middle of the road rather then kite hostile AV and present a idle easy to hit target. I will probably die. Much the same can be said of a dropships EVEN a shiny one. If you stick around long enough to present a target your going to go pop people its not a flying tank. It never will be hell it wont even come close.

Yes it needs tweaks but overall it IS working as intended. Stop trying to use it like a god damn Apache gunship its not one.
I am not insinuating that you are bad players that is not the case. But if you use something beyond its defined role dont expect positive results. Pilots you need to work on your strategy its not just about piloting skill alone you need situational awareness and most importantly you need teamwork.

If you don't get that or you don't think you should have to. Well all I can say is wait for solo attack craft. Because until then your never going to be pleased using a air support vehicle in a way it was not intended.

Also side note i do think we definitely need a serious revision for the WP system in relations to pilots. On that I am in full agreement they deserve better for the vital role they play.

Cheap weapons can quickly destroy very expensive vehicles. That's the fact of the matter in present, so I don't see why it would change in the future.

The drop ships are pretty much the helicopters of the future. A $20 million AH-64 attack helicopter can be easily dispatched by an SA-7 (cheap russian shoulder fired anti aircraft missile)that you could probably buy for a couple thousand bucks.

That's the way it should be, too. But drop ship weapons should be much more effective against infantry.

They shouldn't be very survivable, if someone whips out some AA missiles, as a DS driver you should be sh*tting your pants. Likewise you should mop up unprepared enemies.

What I think the DS needs is less survivability, in all honesty, but they also need some kind of expendable countermeasures that the swarms could bite off on if deployed in a timely manner. Like the flares and chaff we have in today's aircraft. And after you sh*t out all your expendables, you need to swing by a supply depot to reload them before you continue on in battle.

The dropship is a medium vehicle, yet it is an order of magnitude weaker than the LAV.

I exercise reasonable caution but have no fear when driving for roadkill.

I play tag with SL users and can usually bump them off. If not i know I can drive away to cover after a few hits to come back and try again. I see only an occasional FG, and when I do it's often before he takes his first shot. If he's in the road his first thought is usually to run rather than stand and shoot. If by chance he is inaccessible I can use my speed and manuverability to get to cover before he can wreck my ride. Even if I lose one due to getting it stuck I don't fret. They are cheap enough that I still make money with the occasional loss.

Contrast that with the dropship.

When I am in the air I have 10% of the cover I have on the ground. In the dropship I am exposed to fire from a huge portion of the map so I'm spotted first and may not have an idea of the AV users location even after he fires. I have weak acceleration and my flight path is completely predictable to anyone who knows how vector thrust craft fly. I can't "jink" or "weave" to throw off his aim. Add to that the fact that the AV user doesn't fear my weapons. The best small turret is still pretty weak, especially fired from a moving platform, and its range is usually shorter than the AV. If I lose a ship I'm out a pretty big chunk of change.

Putting aside the lack of any viable mission, this would make the MAV dropship useless.

The upshot is that LAV driving is extreme fun and dropship piloting is just a frustrating pain.
Ending a match driving with 14-0 is heart pounding fun. Ending a match 0-1 shot down or 0-0 cowering in my dropship is not.

Hi guys, let me provide you guys with provide some feedback on this topic.

1. We are looking at doing re-balancing of our AV weapons. One of the topics, which also seems to be showing through on this thread is to keep a decently long enough range on the forge gun, but also look at the damage decay variable over time on it, optimal ranges, etc. Because agreed, that it is a very potent anti-vehicle weapon and it's not exactly something that is easily countered with countermeasures (see next point). We also don't want the forge gun to be nerfed to the point of feeling ineffective, so a direct reduction of damage output across the board is not going to be the simple answer there.

2. We are also want to get countermeasures in soon, as well as a lock-on warning system for players piloting vehicles that have been locked on to. The lock-on indication will be a graduated indicator so that you will have a decent idea of how imminent your time to impact is and can choose to act accordingly. Furthermore, we're also working on porting lock-on to a certain subset of turrets. This will come in helpful for dropship pilots who are engaged in dogfights, or supporting assaults against ground units.

3. As one of our immediate tasks, we want to look at how we can provide dropship pilots with more chances to earn WP. We have lots of ideas in mind, however we need to tread carefully on this one so that we're not opening up too many opportunities for exploit. Some of the ideas that are bouncing around are providing WP for players spawned into your craft, WP for use of active scanners (possibly more specialized ones), and finding a way to re-introduce WP for remote repairs without exploit.

4. We will be reducing the ISK cost of dropships so that players can get into them more easily, while also looking at the overall skill cost of this class of vehicle.

5. Lastly, we're aware of turret issues that have come up. Many of the improvements needed will require code support to fix lingering bugs as well as further flesh out existing systems. We are currently working on this as our next set of code fixes.

Hell, I would accept a big nerf to small turret damage if they would buff the dropship's hp or damage resistance.

6. RDVs RDVs RDVs RDVs. Really? They don't even take damage when they kill me? The slightest tap is an instant death, even if it's on my own team? They appear instantly giving you no time to react to them at all? What drunken monkey decided any of this is a good idea.

To be fair though, considering how bad most of the mechanics in the game are, it really shouldn't be a surprise this is done poorly too.

I avoid losing my dropships to RDVs by respecing to infantry

I avoid it by cutting my flight time to near nil.

Dropships can be a pain in the ass to shoot down with swarms and if it is equipped with afterburners they are invincible. Using a proto swarm I could only put a little dent into a python and usually by the time my second swarm is in the air he is already gone.

Just don't expect to hover in 1 place and let your gunner mow down everybody in the area with immunity and you will be fine.

Small turrets are crap enough already, and we already received a nerf to them when they reduced the skill bonus and removed the turret proficiency skills.

Swarms aren't the problem, they're actually balanced quite well against dropships, against most vehicles actually. Forge and railguns and RDV's are the problem.

Swarms aren't the problem, they're actually balanced quite well against dropships, against most vehicles actually. Forge and railguns and RDV's are the problem.

Played 3 matches last night, lost 2 Logi Dropships to RDVs.

"RARE" _-

"RARE" -_-

As of late I have been an avid forge gunner. Recently learned to fly a dropship, and having flown choppers in BF3 I always like to fly in these types of games. I understand the plight of the dropship pilots, but I read alot about "forge gun OP this, railgun OP that"...

Lets put this into perspective...

I am running about the battlefield in my 200k isk Proto Heavy Suit looking for trouble.... I decide to cross the field to the other objective, but a sniper picks me off with an advanced tactical sniper rifle, 3 shots, dead (probably a headshot or two, not hard for a seasoned sniper to pull off on a heavy). Ladies and gentlmen, I just met the scissor to my paper. A measly 4-5k isk sniper rifle just took out my 200,000 suit.

Now lets transfer that over to dropship...

I am flying about the battlefield in my 600k isk Dropship looking for trouble... I decide to fly into the combat zone to blow up some red dots, but a Forge Gun sniper picks me off with an advanced forge gun, 2 shots, dead, not hard for a seasoned forge gun sniper to pull off on a slow moving dropship). Ladies and gentlemen, I just met the scissor to my paper. A measly 10-20k forge gun just took out my 600,000 dropship.


These two scenarios are very similar, so why arent people calling for a BUFF MY SUIT SO NO LOLSNIPERS CAN KILL ME SO FAST GARRGG!

What is the solution.... start communicating with your team. If you dont have a team, form one.. otherwise there will be no rock to crush that scissor.

Got a forge gun up on a roof somewhere? Get your sniper buddy to take him out. Have your dropship out of his line of sight, have your buddy let you know when he is down, head over in your DS and take out his uplink, keep it moving. Railgun Tank on the field, have your buddies take out the tank. They will both come back, be prepared, do it again. If I get sniped in my heavy suit.. am I going to keep charging accross the field towards the sniper so he can keep killing me? No I am going to switch tactics and go take him out .. and if I cant do it, I will ask my squad for help.

Oh whats that? You are a lone wolf dropship pilot who wants to fly around Pub matches pwning face by yourself all day from the safety of your dropship.... awww, BF3 is that way ------------->

NOt saying Dropships dont need attention... but come on guys use your brains out there. If you expect CCP to buff dropships to the point where they have no counter you are daydreaming.

The counter to your argument is this, as a heavy you have a chance to actually tank to some degree, so does a dropship, so we're equal in that scenario. Where we differ however is that you get a chance to save your suit if a friendly medic is nearby, dropships don't, but that's one of the benefits of being infantry.

Another of the benefits of being infantry is that if your running for cover and get hit by a round traveling in excess of 7000m/s you hardly even flinch, whereas in a dropship we get thrown in an often fatal half spin.

And do you want to know the most common situation I run into these days, redline tanks, they park on an incline and they can literally shoot from almost redline to redline on some maps, they can also hit targets all the way up to the flight ceiling. And seeing how a forge gun has a 300m range, and the flight ceiling is only 500m high, a forge gunner on any elevated position can hit a dropship almost anywhere it tries to go.

And here's something, often when a forge gunner gets on a high position like a tower, a teammate will put drop uplinks down, you see this a lot in PC battles, and these uplinks are often placed somewhere the sniper can't see, so a dropship has to be used to either kill the uplink or get the sniper into a position where he can.

The current forge/railgun/dropship balance is so ludicrous right now it's at the stage where it isn't even a case of Rock Paper Scissors anymore, things are so bad that paper has said "to hell with it" and decided not to even exist anymore.

Yup, I am one of those dropship > elevated position > uplink > respawn proto forge type of guys. Dont even need a teammate to help, i can setup my own nest. Its profitable and somewhat enjoyable, helps the team win, and I dont have to worry about bunny hopping scout shotguners, mod controlled tac AR's, or murder taxi's on the ground anymore. Its my lazy way of playing Pub matches, and my last corp wanted me doing it in PC so yeah thats it. but, now that I have a taste for Dropships.. I will respec 100% to assault DS... and fly around until The Last of Us comes out next week. Hope I get my respec in time.

300m is usually enough to cover the combat area around close letters... but its not as far as one would think. Its not that easy to hit a moving dropship at that distance, but with enough practice I am sure someone can become godly with it. Dropships do need a lock on warning of some kind. Countermeasures would be nice, but it doesnt seem like Swarms are your biggest problem. Assault dropship shoud carry 2 gunners only, have more health, cloaking ability, and should be able to take out a tank with enough focused fire... not just an annoyance like a bumble bee.

Some of the maps with high buildings have few locations that a sniper can counter... and when coordinated with a hiding dropship, it is feasable to get infantry on the uplink to destroy it before the forge gunner can respawn after being killed by a good sniper. Not the best solution, but something.

I was flying around in a decent aerial pack transport DS the other day, got shot twice by a railgun, on fire, no shield/health and falling to the ground.. but I activated armor repairer and the DS came back to life and I flew away to recover. Is that normal operating procedure for you DS pilots? Again I am a newb, so forgive me if this is common practice. Seemed like a good idea to save the armor repairers until you are on fire then activate and fly away. I myself as a forge gunner usually ignore a DS that has zero health and is on fire.. maybe others will do the same and you can escape?

Redline tanks, yeah nothing to say to counter your point there. Between that an invisible RDVs destroying your DS I can see where the frustration comes from.

Might have missed it but I think the -90 WP is ridiculous as well.

Swarms are fine tbh, forge guns on the other hand are way too effective. Their charge up time especially the assault forge guns is murderous. The assault forge charges up in what? 2-3 seconds once you invest sp into it, the afterburner module takes around 2 seconds to activate and around another half a second to fully move it from its previous location.

Picture this: You're flying along in your 1.2 Million ISK Assault Dropship from your base over to your squad mates, in hopes of aiding them from the sky. Finally, after a long and dangerous flight of blowing up installations in fear of an enemy using one to shoot you down, you reach your squad members and start raining fire from above. You balance your ship above your squad mates and shoot down three hostile targets with the front-mounted missile turret. You're about to get a fourth kill when suddenly, an enemy trooper with a CBR7 Swarm Launcher takes out 1/4 of your shield. You get the hint, they don't want you there. You pan your ship left and right, desperately in search of the swarmer. Bang. Shields at 50%. You react by activating your Shield Booster, hopefully in time to boost your reps by the time you find him. A third volley slams into your hull but you have no idea where the swarm came, they're too faint or almost invisible to see. You make the wise decision to abandon your squad mates and gain some altitude. You evade the pestering swarm launchers fourth volley and get out of his range. Your squad starts coming into some heavy enemy fire. You've had enough time repping your shields off-grid, you want to get back into the fight. You decide to head back into the battlefield with around 75% shields. You've just returned to your squadrons position and open fire upon the troops below, but before you get that evasive scout, your armour is at 50%. You have no idea what has happened. In despair, you attempt to activate your shield repair but you know it's already too late. You try to accelerate away, only to find your ship in flames and heading for the ground. You bail while your ship explodes in a fiery ball of death, rewarding you -90 WP's for 'Python Destruction' and as you try to gauge your situation, a 9K330 forge gun round hits your position, sending you into the next dimension.

Storytime over. How can a 6,585 ISK Swarm Launcher that only takes less than a million SP pin down a 1.2 million ISK ship worth over a 3million SP that easily? Or the fast firing forge gun that does 1.5k damage (base) with a 3.5 second charge time? That's barely any time for the pilot to accelerate away and try rep their shields.

Not to mention that the infantry have the advantage of being 1) smaller targets, 2) able to use most cover to their advatange 3)
are very hard to see from most distance, including their tags only showing up from a pitiful few yards.

Give the Dropships a buff like every other vehicle did, because they're the vehicles that needed it the most, yet as matter of fact, today they got 'nerfed' as pointed out in various other threads (source: https://forums.dust514.com/default.aspx?g=posts&t=76984&find=unread and https://forums.dust514.com/default.aspx?g=posts&t=76963&find=unread)

On the other hand, I do greatly appreciate the new handling / speed increases, but there is still more work to be done on them, including the WP's for mobile CRU spawns (which can be exploit-proof easily with certain limitations).

More importantly dropships do not have a role that validifies their existance. This is a major problem with the heart of Dust, the game modes are awful at promoting diverse strategies, gambits and playstyles. They are unfocused, all feature shared objectives, do not encourage defence.

Forge Gunner here, can attest to them being too deadly against dropships. Usually kills outright, sometimes they get away, either way you deny them access to a good portion of the map in a rough 600m circle around where they estimate you to be.

Travel time is really quite fast. Never had a ship survive 2 hits of an Ishukone Assault running two complex dams. Charge time at Op V is 1.875 seconds with an Assault. Any smithy worth his salt will be using these, better DPS by some margin, more reactive and forces you to improve your aiming as it doesn't allow you to dither. You can also feather it to kinda mimic a held charge, constantly charging then releasing about 2/3rds through.

Dropships not making evasive maneuvres are easy to track. After the first hit they have about a second and a half to react, not much considering they have to also account for and correct the knockback.

About that knockback, for the one shooting the DS it's predictable and can be factored into the next shot. That the DS has to specifically assess and correct it is a variable that hampers their evasive reaction further.

More importantly dropships do not have a role that validifies their existance. This is a major problem with the heart of Dust, the game modes are awful at promoting diverse strategies, gambits and playstyles. They are unfocused, all feature shared objectives, do not encourage defence.

In a scenario where you have an attacker and a defender, one side tasked with seizing the objective their opposite number is defending, then we might start seeing more strategies and roles become viable. HAVs become important for their ability to push forward, making the enemy infantry hunker down and letting their own advance. Dropships can bypass the frontline, airdropping in a squad behind it to either attack the frontline from a second angle or make an attempt at the objective by themselves. Dedicated AV impede the capacity for a vehicular push. Snipers deny infantry free use of the best vantage points, are among the best disposed for killing infantry AV as they fire on friendly vehicles.

A focused objective is sorely needed. The moment we have an objective of great enough strategic importance to be worth dropping on is when we'll start seeing dropships get proper use. That it'll form a tangible frontline around it will also make a whole host of other playstyles more important based on their ability to push, to hold, to threaten, to deny. Will also naturally lead to a wider team dynamic, having the whole of each side all working together to maintain the defence or to break it.

I couldn't agree more. The prime role for a dropship to be used as troop transport is practically non-existant. Even in strategically planned battles as such found in Planetary Conquest, Dropships are rarely used. Apart from maybe the start of the match where a squad may use the dropship at the start of the match to get to a high position or to a point first, only to ditch the dropship for the remainder of the game. The dropship is not useful other than a means of getting to a higher elevation. I'd like to see a fortress style map that would make it logistically viable for a dropship to constantly be ferrying troops, or maybe a bridge map,s over hazardous terrain below with each team based on either side of the bridge and primarily fighting in the middle. Dropships would be a huge tactical advantage from moving past the 'hotzone' area or maybe even evaccing players out of said area.
This is all well and good brainstorming, but this would only be possible if dropships got a HUGE HP buff.

Try a proto fragmented missile with skills at level 5 and a damage mod. It tears through most everything, suits and vehicles.

We fought against a betamax ADS today, he was very well built and skilled dropship. We had a hard time brining him down and he was def a factor on the battlefield. So clearly they can be built and that can have high survivability. My Officer forge gun and our tank had to be on constant lookout for him and he defiantly was a major threat.

So i disagree after seeing that assault dropship. I used to think they where no factors but after that battle I would say they can have a major impact if used and built right.

Another thing: you try actually playing transport in the godawful thing, but the enemy team (for no good reason) perceives your militia dropship as a threat and calls an orbital on you. 0 WPs gained overall, but you lost a bunch because it blew up.

Here's your problem. You stayed STILL while the swarm launcher was firing at you. Infantry needs something to fire at us or we would be god mode. Learn that when AV starts firing at you, you bug out, ESPECIALLY Caldari Dropships.

I run Gallente, and swarms really don't bug me. You may be asking yourself, "But Mary, you are Gallente, slower and weaker to explosive." Oh ho ho oh vaunted poster, there you are dead wrong. I can easily fit an afterburner to my Gallente and sacrifice NONE of my armor tank and the speed allows me to run circles while the missiles miss. My passive and active damage resistances allow me to eat the ones that hit and my mobility grants me the ability to get out of the way.

Would I like a buff? Yes. Do I think the AV should be nerfed? No. Its a delicate balance between being god-mode in the sky and easily eaten.

To the forge gunners on this post, yes, you eat Caldari dropships easily because of their lower mobility and resistance to your shots. Armor tanked Incubi can survive many hits from the lower tier, and my top-tier build can survive 2-3 hits from an Ishikone Forge Gun. Buff me much more and we'll have forge gunner threads talking about how they need to be buffed to kill those damnable dropships.

I recommend going Gallente if you choose Dropships. The armor allows you greater survivability against the true threats against your ship: Rail Gun Tanks, Rail Gun Installations, and Forge Gunners. Swarm Launchers are dreadfully inadequate against an experienced aerial targets, even with the bonus to armor damage.

Good flying, pilots.

To your post's point of stating that Dropships have no "role", I strongly disagree. I use mine effectively in many ways. Let me list the ways:

1) Ground Suppression - When enemies are moving in mass, there is nothing more fun than thinning their numbers with my side gunner running my XT Accelerated Missile Launcher strikes. To STD suits, they one shot, and 2-3 shot PRO/ADV suits. Sure, a forge gunner may take a swing at me, but I can shrug it off, pop my speed booster (which throws off my predictability), pop my repair tool and re-engage, thinning the ground.

2) Fast transportation to Targets - Not an important role on smaller maps, on larger maps dropping a full load on a target is QUITE effective -=AND=- afterwards I can drop into a Ground Suppression role.

3) Tank Suppression/Destruction - Foolish is the tank that wanders out of his redline when I am in the sky. Sure, Redline Rail Tanks of sufficient power will force me to recall (and only rarely destroy me), but when they wander out, I will destroy them. Even if I fail to destroy them, which is rare, I have effectively kept the tank out of combat as he hauls ass for his safe zone.

There are so many other things to justify their existence. Unfortunately there are not many competent pilots out there, and Caldari is truly weak due to the fact that the strongest AV against us is especially effective vs. their shields.

9 times out of 10 I bug out in my Python and yes, there are times where I do survive because of it but alot of the time I simply get shot down before my attempts to survive, because the reaction on the dropship, especially the standard and logistics variants is just too slow in proportion to the DPS of the forge / rail blasts. Swarms are another thing but they still pack a punch and are really annoying, especially when they're INVISIBLE. This isn't about Caldari vs Gallente dropships, it's down to playstyle and both have their pros and cons, but I'm talking about dropships not being able to provide a valid role on the battlefield due to their poor state. After I made this post, I went AV Heavy ... on one hand I can say AV is 'OP' but on the other, which most people agree, it's not the anti-vehicle weaponry that's overpowered, it's just in proportion to them, the dropship might as well be made of glass .. I know it's a delicate situation, from making dropships as weak as they are, into flying nightmares. but I'd rather the latter, not only because I'm a pilot, but i'd rather be an infantryman saying "watch out guys, there's a hostile dropship closing in!!" rather than "lololol enemy dropship, free points"

Wow, that's just unlucky. In a speedy ship, I am usually out of the area once I hear the blaring warning sound.

Happened to me too many damn times to call it bad luck. Although I think it only happened once this build.

Avid railgun user here and i don't think i've met a dropship that lasted more than 2-3 shots once he wandered into a space where I could shoot him. Make them faster or tankier because it isn't even fun at this point.

most dropships, when more or less stationary when orbital striked, don't have enough HP to survive the panicing acceleration out of there in time.

Here's your problem. You stayed STILL while the swarm launcher was firing at you. Infantry needs something to fire at us or we would be god mode. Learn that when AV starts firing at you, you bug out, ESPECIALLY Caldari Dropships.

I run Gallente, and swarms really don't bug me. You may be asking yourself, "But Mary, you are Gallente, slower and weaker to explosive." Oh ho ho oh vaunted poster, there you are dead wrong. I can easily fit an afterburner to my Gallente and sacrifice NONE of my armor tank and the speed allows me to run circles while the missiles miss. My passive and active damage resistances allow me to eat the ones that hit and my mobility grants me the ability to get out of the way.

Would I like a buff? Yes. Do I think the AV should be nerfed? No. Its a delicate balance between being god-mode in the sky and easily eaten.

To the forge gunners on this post, yes, you eat Caldari dropships easily because of their lower mobility and resistance to your shots. Armor tanked Incubi can survive many hits from the lower tier, and my top-tier build can survive 2-3 hits from an Ishikone Forge Gun. Buff me much more and we'll have forge gunner threads talking about how they need to be buffed to kill those damnable dropships.

I recommend going Gallente if you choose Dropships. The armor allows you greater survivability against the true threats against your ship: Rail Gun Tanks, Rail Gun Installations, and Forge Gunners. Swarm Launchers are dreadfully inadequate against an experienced aerial targets, even with the bonus to armor damage.

Good flying, pilots.

What we need are a few maps where infantry needs a dropship to get to the battle.

Make them see us as a required team asset and they might actually care about our surviability.

I haven't flown dropships yet in this game. But I love flying crafts in other games, and as silly as it may sound. Going down fast and low is the best tactical decision you can make when you're taking fire from an unknown location. Most hostiles that lay down fire on you most likely have walls, and other objects around them. So going as low as your flying skills allow will in most cases provide you with the cover needed to recover and go in for another pass in a better position. It all takes time, but that's what it takes to survive.

I'm not convinced. I don't think I've ever seen you in a match, and even if I did, what are you, one in a million?

Yeah, I've seen the Gallente dropships. I don't even need the Ishukone AFG, DAU/2 is fully sufficient to take you down in one clip. If I don't, I'll render your dropship useless for the entire match while you circle around the massive flight ceiling and accomplish nothing. I've seen that kind, they survive and do nothing but waste the other team's player slots for the rest of the match. Swoop back in 1-2 minutes later, try to take more potshots or drop people off, get shot at, run away for the next couple of minutes and accomplish nothing. Amazing.

I don't understand what point you're trying to prove. That you're awesome, or that dropships are fine? Because they're not as soon as someone spawns in with a Forge Gun and knows how to use it.

Here you go all you trolls.

Read this and shove it in your pie hole. Stuff gets blown up

Life isn't fair


TL;DR
$111,000,000 plane gets shot down by SAM Site in Serbia, probably costing about $38,000

But that is not a game, games are meant to be balanced and meant to be fun. Hell if everything was like real life you cant just sprint, then wait a few seconds then sprint fully again, eventually you becomes too tired to fully sprint.

Also you do not just appear in a vehicle instantly either, you have to climb into position in real life..... you see my point here?

I've seen CCP talk about giving dropships WP in a 'non-exploitable' way, but I still have no idea how you could exploit a mobile CRU for that. You have to keep your vehicle alive and manned for it to work, so you're not getting WP for doing nothing. Your teammates have to die in order to use it, which is not a thing people do just for funsies.

The only thing I can think of is that they don't you to call in multiple mCRU-equipped dropships, let other people fly them, and then award WP to either a caller who isn't piloting the ship, or a DS driver who didn't call it in (depending on whether the WP are assigned to the caller or current driver). Really, neither way seems terribly exploity to me, but if both of those are such terrible things, only give out WP when the person in the pilot seat is the one who called it in.

Dropships in public matches:
oh look a pinata lets every 1 grab our militia swarm launcher and get a free kill!

Dropships in PC matches:
oh look a throw away taxi and not a real threat (if the derpship gets 1 kill he will get instnatly proto forgegunned or shot down with proto swarms)

In both situations i would not advise to use anything better then a militia viper. The sad fact now is that they are only usefull to get high ground advantage quickly. Apart from that they are a non factor.

i dont know what your point is. Are you saying a swarm launcher should cost 1.2 million isk? or that a swarm launcher should be nerfed until its like chucking popcorn at you? If you dont wanna lose dropships, stop flying them.

Swarms are fine tbh, forge guns on the other hand are way too effective. Their charge up time especially the assault forge guns is murderous. The assault forge charges up in what? 2-3 seconds once you invest sp into it, the afterburner module takes around 2 seconds to activate and around another half a second to fully move it from its previous location.

I think the balance is fine. I like laughing at DS pilots who spend lots of money and get shot down. I don't fly expensive dropships and if you do, then I am thinking you might be pointing the "dumb" finger the wrong direction.