I think one of the major problems for dropships is they have such a large vulnerable spot.

There needs to be a skill that gives +3/5% to damage resistance per level. This way the forge is left alone and it takes sp for someone to have a good dropship.

There is, it's called shield/armour upgrades, and for dropships it's useless.

i checked the market just to see the damage a forge gun can do the prototype does 2700 and you say im wrong about them being overpowered i have 2 prototype shield extenders on my python and a shield hardener and that would still take my dropship out ( without damage amplifiers ) so they may be balanced on everything else but that would 1 shot any other dropship... the problem is you can only squeeze 3400 shield on a python without a armorrepair module

Light modules are useless against forge guns, those things are balanced against the heavy modules,which is half the problem between forge guns and modules.

And moochie, why not just give dropships an inherent resistance buff in that case?

There are so many problems with the dropship that it's difficult to know where to begin.

- They are huge targets
- They have practically no cover as they hang in the air
- They are accessable from just about anywhere on the map so AV doesn't have to be threatened by infantry
- They have the accelleration of a Greyhound bus with a Prius drivetrain
- They have to fly low and slow to do anything useful
- They are tissue paper thin unless you have millions of SP into them and then they are newsprint thin

On top of that they have no real mission.

Everyone says they are transports, but CCP treats them like gunships, going so far as to make an Assault variant. CCP Blam is now talking about a bomber variant. I don't get the feeling that we will see any ADV or PRO "versions" of the dropship, just more variations for increasing SP and ISK.

There is no need to use a dropship as transport. Grab a couple LAVs and you will arrive quickly, more stealthily, and intact with a few roadkills on the way. Take a dropship and you may not make it. In any event unless you area a heavy you can just walk in the time it takes to call in a dropship.

Once you make it to an objective DUs and objective spawning eliminate 90% of the need for long distance transport even on the larger maps.

The other missions?

- Vehicle scanners: They are radius based so the ground footprint is tiny to non-existant unless you are flying lamp-post height.

- Shield transport: With a range of several meters the dropship may as well be a child's balloon tied to the HAV's top turret. It's as easy to kill and as impossilbe to miss..

Dropships are a solution looking for a problem to solve. They used to fun to fly when they were somewhat responsive, but they are such slow pigs that I've stopped flying them for fun.

Now I'm driving the SLAV or LLAV for fun. The new control scheme with L2/R2 for brake/accellerator is great and racing around is so much more fun. I get the feeling of speed and the challenge of a racing game while turning red dots into red smears on the road. The speed loss when hitting a suit actually improves the fun as it makes it feel like a substantial hit. Now CCP needs to add a crunching sound of the suit being crushed to make it perfect. My personal best is 14-0 and I'm having a blast.

The LAV has the benefit of eHP, abundant cover, and accelleration which makes it 100x more survivable than a dropship. LAVs are where it's at.

It's hard to tell if all the dropships I've taken out have just been bad or my FG is just OP vs them. Most ships can only take one hit from my Ishukone Assault before dropping. Sometimes it MIGHT take two. I can totally understand why pilots are upset. It takes several shots on an LLAV and they are a lot more agile. It should take at least two shots to take out a basic ship, 3-4 for a good ship.

*Anyone who has any idea what they're actually talking about.

As in people with experience both flying a lot and shooting DS with a FG?
I know there's got to be a few of you, I just want to know who...

Why do dropship pilots even bother to land. Just have the passengers bail from the air. That requires coordination and skill of both dropship pilot and passengers, and is far safer for the ship. Not to mention impressive. Dropsuits have air brakes for a reason - use them.

Also, dropships have to be somewhat light to stay airborne. I say that knowing full well its a brick. There has to be a realistic balance between ship mass and avaliable thrust, and I believe it's met it. So yea, as a forge gunner and DS pilot, I think it's realistic.

The dropships has the entire airspace to play around with. USE IT! Stop bitching for a flying tank, you won't get it. You'll get better controls eventually, but not a flying fortress. If you aren't using the dropships inherent advantages , then the fault lies with you.

Dropships are fine. We currently only have access to standard ones.

*Anyone who has any idea what they're actually talking about.

As in people with experience both flying a lot and shooting DS with a FG?
I know there's got to be a few of you, I just want to know who...

Classic DUST mentality: It'll be fine in a year, don't worry man