My ideas for redesign

Basic DS -

1. pilots gets a small turret
2. be able to fit a full squad plus gunners (so max capacity is 8 + pilot)
3. hitpoints should be equivalent to a HAV.
4. an eject button for everyone but the gunners

Assault DS

1. Should be able to fit large turrets in all slots
2. should be able to fit 2 plus gunners (max capacity is 4+ pilot)
3. HP should be just higher than an LAV making it a glass cannon.

I want to be able to use an assault dropship to clear a roof and drop a small strike team, or use a basic to drop a team into a lightly defended area.

I agree with many ideas presented here. I want to make note of one, the idea of having an independent control for assault dropships.

YES, YES, HAIL MARY FULL OF GRACE, YES!!! Aiming is ridiculous for assault dropships, the fact that we are forced to fit them is even more annoying. IF it is meant for aerial suppression of ground targets, then it needs to move independently of the dropship in order to have any sort of efficiency. I think having this turret mobility tied to the fire button is a bit finicky though. Considering how hard it is to line up shots now, the first several shots will miss. This doesn't seem like much, but that also builds up heat, which will cut into our DPS when we have to build up some heat to even aim the thing. I believe toggling moving the turret to R3 (clicking in the right stick) is a grand idea. At the first sign of trouble, click it again to regain control of the dropship and get the hell out of dodge.

Also, for this to be viable (and to save a LOT of the headache involved with dropships currently) have a "hold altitude" button that allows the dropship to hover perfectly still, perhaps tied to L3. Or, an I would like this option better, revamp dropship controls. Currently there is a steep learning curve in order to fly a dropship, which we have to learn under battlefield conditions, making other players as much of a danger as our own mistakes (imagine learning to drive if everyone was shooting at you during practice. And that's without leaving the ground!) Having a skill curve is one thing, but its almost impossible to keep the thing still for turret gunners to get off any good shots, and even then, that makes us easy targets, and since we have almost no tank, holding still gets us killed. Unless we get a respectable buff to our survivability, then we need easier controls to give our gunners the ability to effectively defend us.

Another thing unrelated to dropships, but is more a problem with turrets in general, blaster turrets feel ridiculously accurate as they are. I have to keep that dot RIGHT ON my target to get hits. Perhaps add in a spread effect like AR's have, starting out like they are now and decreasing with more shots. This means we can hold down the trigger at relative close ranges and have enough spread to hit moving targets, and it makes gunners use fire discipline at longer ranges.

I had other ideas for this post, but it's 2am and my brain isn't functioning on all cylinders. Hoping a blue will take note of these ideas. Or at least tell us that they're not looking to tweak dropships yet. Negative response would be better than none at all.