Best time to shoot Dropship?

[Ewspne]

Per title;
Does shooting the dropship while loaded kill all enemies, or is it more effective to let it drop them to the ground followed up with shooting it down on top of them?

Anyone know what the most effective way to deal with the ship AND its cargo?

[Evilphd]

What I've found - Right as it levels. Target the engines. EATs

[KingZrrXII]

blast the engine with a rocket before the adds drop. That will kill all of them, even if they're glitched and look alive. But once they fall from the ship they're gonna get active.

[Ewspne]

Oh I know how to make it go boom.

But moreso, does destroying it earlier or later affect the survivability of the bots being dropped off.

[KingZrrXII]

Originally posted by Evilphd:

What I've found - Right as it levels. Target the engines. EATs

Quasar does wonders as well, but you gotta pre-charge if you want to hit them before they drop

[Kael]

Just shoot them, for democracy. that it.

[Vivianite]

before it drops from what i heard, post drop has mixed results.

[Malakith`4f]

From my testing, blowing it out of the sky before it has released the units often times kills most if not all, while shooting it down after it has released the units rarely gets kills at all even if it drops on all the crew below.

[Kackstift]

if the units still are docked on they die with the ship.. the exploding ship does not alot of damage to anything else.

always target new ships.

[XelNigma]

I shot one while it was still swooping in and the tank it deployed was just stuck under the hull for a while until it desolved. Making the tank stationary but also giving it a major degree of protection.
After that I deemed it not worth the hassle.

[Lord Bullingdon]

I was able to take those things down with the quasar when it came out but haven't pulled it off since.

[Axis of Lint]

Originally posted by Ewspne:

Per title;
Does shooting the dropship while loaded kill all enemies, or is it more effective to let it drop them to the ground followed up with shooting it down on top of them?

Anyone know what the most effective way to deal with the ship AND its cargo?

It varies. I've had mixed results shooting it at any time. If I shoot it before it drops, I've had bots survive. If I shoot it after they drop, I've had the wreck kill bots when it lands and explodes on them.

In my opinion, if you have time, it's always worth blowing them up anyway because you're likely to get a few kills either way.

[Jhea]

when it's slowing down and is at it's lowest point.
aim a bit higher and shoot.
when it comes to the uppermost part of the small 'ascencion' after the stop is when they drop their load.
by then it's too late.
you have about 1 to 3 seconds to take the shot, so be ready and already aimed.

managed to take out several dropships with 8 or more bots on them and have all of the as kills counted in the defense mission

[Shy0]

if you blow the dropship up before it has released the passengers, it kills everything.

if you blow the dropship up *after* it has unloaded, results can vary. i have seen it crash onto a tank and destroy it, and i have also seen berzerkers survive the crash but get stuck under the wreckage.

btw as an extra tip, if you can time and place it right, an orbital railcannon shot can destroy the dropship too besides the usual EAT/recoilless/spear/quasar shot to the engine. other orbital strategems have too much variability in accuracy and call-in times to be useful in taking out dropships, though i can see the occasional dropship taking a lucky hit from an orbital barrage or laser.

autocannons and autocannon sentries can also down dropships but they need a lot of shots (don't know the exact number); i've seen autocannon sentries shoot down dropships but usually after they've managed to unload so it's probably in the region of 9-12 direct hits. if you're an autocannon user and you see mobs other than hulks and tanks being carried in, just unload into the carriage anyway and you'll kill at least the squishy ones even if the dropship itself survives.

if you come across SAM sites (optional objectives) during your mission, activating them can help but if the dropship is called in really far away from the SAM site, the missiles might not hit it quickly enough before it has unloaded.

[Asto]

Quasar is currently really the best weapon for this. If you already know they are coming, start charging it prematurely and blow the dropship as soon as they got into position for dropoff.
I honestly thought they would nerf it, so enjoy it while you can.