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I find more often than not I am forced to ignore them due to more important targets threatening me but then as the game moves along 3-5 drop pods can really start to hurt and they they hold objectives too. They are pretty hard to kill though....Just curious how people usually deal with this.

Well, I always go for tabling and they keep shooting at me, so yes, I kill them.

As a Tau player I regularly have spare meltas on mobile platforms, so it's pretty rare for me to leave them on the table just because.. stop that.

I kill them as a guard player because they block movement and the difficulty they have misshaping makes me mad

If there's no other more immediate threat, sure. The troops sitting on my home objective just wiped out the guys that came out of the pod so why not clean up?

Either gunning for kill points/first blood when no better targets. Otherwise, only if there are no better targets.

The few times I've fought someone with drop pods (rarely play against Space Marine variants) I'll save drop pods for if/when I get the objective card to destroy a vehicle. As a Dark Angel player, I'm very amused by my opponents efforts to push a pod off an objective. Kill that pod and all the other stuff you didn't shoot at is now attacking you back.

Depends what I have to do, and to work with. For example if the unit just disembarked from them and are right next to it and the only thing I have in range is anti-tank then I'll try to see if I can pop it and catch the disembarked models in it's explosion.

But if I only really have anti-infantry near it then I use that to try and kill the unit next to it.

Another thing that can change how I prioritize drop pods is what it's equipped with (like if it has missiles, or is one of the FW "full of weapons" variants).

If it is a troops drop pod on an objective it has obsec, and therefore is on the same target level as troops and needs to die!

It depends on whether the pod is inconveniencing me at the time or not. In most cases, it's somewhere plinking away and I've got better things to kill. If it's sitting on an objective, or somewhere I need to be... then it has to die.

By turn 3 I am usually able to devote some attention to killing the ones holding objectives. I hate that rule change which allows immobile vehicles to hold, and troop pods have Objective secured to boot

 Grey Templar wrote:
By turn 3 I am usually able to devote some attention to killing the ones holding objectives. I hate that rule change which allows immobile vehicles to hold, and troop pods have Objective secured to boot

Yes I despise these rules.

at 35 points a pop they should really be 10/10/10 and open-topped, IMO

 Sir Arun wrote:
at 35 points a pop they should really be 10/10/10 and open-topped, IMO

I'm with you there for sure. 12 armor and even has 3 hull points...it's as tough as a dreadnought . If they were armor 10 I don't think I would have needed to make this thread.

They are open topped.

And I think AV12 is ok. They are supposed to survive reentry into the atmosphere.

 Sir Arun wrote:
at 35 points a pop they should really be 10/10/10 and open-topped, IMO

They should be "open topped" regardless. With the doors open, there is more of the inside showing than the outside.
With their virtual inability to mishap, they were also undercosted and with their new abilities in claiming, they are WAY undercosted.

 Sir Arun wrote:
at 35 points a pop they should really be 10/10/10 and open-topped, IMO

Keep in mind they're the same as a rhino, which is 11/11/10 and can drive around, all the while protecting a librarian and two plasma guns.

 EVIL INC wrote:

 Sir Arun wrote:
at 35 points a pop they should really be 10/10/10 and open-topped, IMO

They should be "open topped" regardless. With the doors open, there is more of the inside showing than the outside.
With their virtual inability to mishap, they were also undercosted and with their new abilities in claiming, they are WAY undercosted.

In a fair and balanced 40k universe drop pods would be like 70 points for all their toughness and anti mishap shenanigans. Then again lots of things would be different in a balanced 40k universe.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 kingbobbito wrote:

 Sir Arun wrote:
at 35 points a pop they should really be 10/10/10 and open-topped, IMO

Keep in mind they're the same as a rhino, which is 11/11/10 and can drive around, all the while protecting a librarian and two plasma guns.

rhino is easier to kill.

 Xenomancers wrote:

 kingbobbito wrote:

 Sir Arun wrote:
at 35 points a pop they should really be 10/10/10 and open-topped, IMO

Keep in mind they're the same as a rhino, which is 11/11/10 and can drive around, all the while protecting a librarian and two plasma guns.

rhino is easier to kill.

A rhino is easier to kill than a 10/10/10 drop pod?

As a Tau player I take them out being they block my field of fire for my Broadsides and Hammerheads

 Jihadin wrote:
As a Tau player I take them out being they block my field of fire for my Broadsides and Hammerheads

Plus its just fun to shoot holes in the marine eggs....

If I have nothing better to shoot or it is sitting on an objective. or if it is blocking LOS for an important shooty unit. Otherwise I'll ignore them.

 kingbobbito wrote:

 Xenomancers wrote:

 kingbobbito wrote:

 Sir Arun wrote:
at 35 points a pop they should really be 10/10/10 and open-topped, IMO

Keep in mind they're the same as a rhino, which is 11/11/10 and can drive around, all the while protecting a librarian and two plasma guns.

rhino is easier to kill.

A rhino is easier to kill than a 10/10/10 drop pod?

nono - drop pods have 12/12/12 open topped.

Personally I like it when people fail to target drop pods.

Especially the first wave ones that have locator beacons.

I'll kill them if necessary, if they're on an objective or blocking a fire lane or carrying a beacon.

If they're not, and it's not a KP game, I'll ignore them unless I've got nothing better to do.


That said, Drop Pods certainly are very cheap and over-armored for what they offer, 35pts for safe deep strike to get a unit exactly where it needs to be, and to do it turn 1, and then still have armor equal to that of medium tanks, particularly now that they can be superscoring...

 Grey Templar wrote:
They are open topped.

And I think AV12 is ok. They are supposed to survive reentry into the atmosphere.

Heat shielding != armor. Even relatively light weapons would have no trouble in penetrating and destroying something like a Soyuz re-entry capsule or an Apollo reentry module.

 Xenomancers wrote:

 kingbobbito wrote:

 Xenomancers wrote:

 kingbobbito wrote:

 Sir Arun wrote:
at 35 points a pop they should really be 10/10/10 and open-topped, IMO

Keep in mind they're the same as a rhino, which is 11/11/10 and can drive around, all the while protecting a librarian and two plasma guns.

rhino is easier to kill.

A rhino is easier to kill than a 10/10/10 drop pod?

nono - drop pods have 12/12/12 open topped.

I was talking about what Sir Arun said about they should be weaker. If you want to keep them on point scale with a rhino it has to be 12/12/12 all around, otherwise rhinos would be underpriced.

Dropping them to two hull points would be nice and AV 12 does seem a little high for something so expendable.
I shoot at them when I can. Objective secured usually doesn't matter until late in the game (I don't play maelstrom), do they are pretty low on my target priority list.

 Vaktathi wrote:

 Grey Templar wrote:
They are open topped.

And I think AV12 is ok. They are supposed to survive reentry into the atmosphere.

Heat shielding != armor. Even relatively light weapons would have no trouble in penetrating and destroying something like a Soyuz re-entry capsule or an Apollo reentry module.

True, but the Pod doesn't have the benefit of a parachute. And even with its retro-thrusters its still hitting the ground at high speed.

 kingbobbito wrote:

 Xenomancers wrote:
snip

I was talking about what Sir Arun said about they should be weaker. If you want to keep them on point scale with a rhino it has to be 12/12/12 all around, otherwise rhinos would be underpriced.

Heh, remember the time when a Rhino was 50 points and there was no turn 1 drop pod assault? Those were the days

 Grey Templar wrote:

 Vaktathi wrote:

 Grey Templar wrote:
They are open topped.

And I think AV12 is ok. They are supposed to survive reentry into the atmosphere.

Heat shielding != armor. Even relatively light weapons would have no trouble in penetrating and destroying something like a Soyuz re-entry capsule or an Apollo reentry module.

True, but the Pod doesn't have the benefit of a parachute. And even with its retro-thrusters its still hitting the ground at high speed.

Armor wouldn't help with that, in fact, you'd want a flexible, light structure for that, something that would absorb impact, not rigid and hard, at least not in the way armor is.