Yep, you read that right. I think tanks and dropships are in good spots right now. I'm coming up on 10m SP invested in HAV's and currently drive Gunnlogi's. Dropships will not benefit from a pure HP buff as many are suggesting, nor will tanking magically be made easier with the introduction of advanced and prototype tanks.

What's wrong with the current game is AV being out of whack.

IF YOU DON'T WANT TO READ THE ENTIRE WALL, I INCLUDED A TL;DR.

YES, THIS IS AN OPINION POST. IF YOU CAN'T HANDLE OTHERS OPINIONS OR HAVE A "STOP LIKING WHAT I DON'T LIKE" MENTALITY, PLEASE EXIT THE WAY YOU CAME. I AM COMPLETELY OPEN TO DISCUSSION.

Firstly, I think swarms and plasma cannons are in a good spot right now. Swarms require you to stay out in the open while you obtain your lock, which gives enemies a chance to pop you. This comes with the bonus of having missiles track your target. These things also fly slow enough to give an aware vehicle pilot time to react. Plasma cannons trade the benefit of tracking to allow you to pop out of cover, fire, and quickly get back into cover. These weapons do a good amount of damage, and, when used in groups, spells doom for the vehicle, while used solo drives tanks away and provides a deterrent should they want to come back. These weapons should be used as a benchmark for other AV weapons.

Forge guns do a lot of damage out to a great range. I don't mind that they can hit pretty hard, but there needs to be a decay effect over distance (much like the optimal / falloff of Eve). You should not be able to two-shot a dropship barely within render range, however if said dropship is hovering right over you, he should feel the pain. The same would apply when forging tanks. You shouldn't be able to apply full damage from your redline into his.

I know that forge gunners do suffer drawbacks for their power, such as sacrificing your ability to fight infantry, a reduction in already non-existent move speed, limited ammo pool with small clips, as well as being lit up like a Christmas tree when charging, among other things not mentioned. I'm not going into the whole "WTF Y DO FORGIS DO MOAR DAMG THAN BIG RAIL?!", because comparing numbers to numbers does no justice to either side. Tbh, I think the damage on forges right now is fine. It's the range that's the issue. The long range of forges makes all of the downsides to forging moot, since you don't need to deal with infantry (aside from snipers), you're usually in a good spot to see the field ('dem roof camps), and there's usually a friendly nanohive nearby. I'd like to see forgers have to either fire from a closer range to apply their full damage (not melee range, still fairly long, not sure what a good exact number would be), or if they choose to use long range, suffer a damage reduction.

AV grenades do need a nerf. These do enough damage to render AV builds completely useless, since any idiot with a grenade slot can throw these homing bastards into a vehicles face and do massive amounts of damage. They also require very little SP investment for their effectiveness, and are usually seen as a bonus for getting those proto flux / locus grenades. These things should work as a deterrent instead of allowing any infantryman to both run anti-infantry weaponry and pop any tank that comes into view. These nades are the only AV weapon I think should be directly damage nerfed.

Rails basically follow the same thought pattern I use earlier in this post, in that they shouldn't be able to reach out and touch you from across the map and two shot you. I've shot down my fair share of dropships with my rail tank, and it is far too easy. Direct HP buffs will not save you from being knocked across the sky by a lone railer.

The main reason dropships are "fragile" right now is because the maps are too small. You're being forced to play the entire match within range of all AV weaponry on the field at any given point in time, meaning as soon as you take off, everyone knows. The problem isn't your HP, it's forge / rail range. Swarms can be dealt with by good pilots, or tanked for a short time by more expensive fits. When CCP does deliver larger maps, I think you'll see your chances of surviving the round with your dropship intact will increase dramatically, especially if they're coupled with what I've suggested.

TL; DR - Vehicle HP is fine. Forges / rails need a falloff range. Swarms and plasma cannons should be used as benchmarks for AV weaponry. AV nades are disgusting and should be nerfed. Dropship HP buffs will not save you, nor will ADV / PROTO tanks.

Come at me bro.