Been playing the game with the death coffin (skyranger) and still I am against having the skymarshall the way it is.
A dangerous ramp, doesnt mean a completely illogical craft design and a random buffer just because.
And here to the guy who said keep TFTD out. See what you are missing...
I am the same guy.
Lovely as the sprites and the job done on this as they are, I still prefer to miss them. Unless you plan on using them for a custom tailored instalation or something that has nothing to do with TFTD.
But still leave TFTD to TFTD. I dislike continuity problems.
That's an interesting opinion.
1/ I can understand how ramp helps going (easier) into multiple direction... Skymarshall has two new doors for that... shame you cannot shoot diagonally when standing at the doorstep. Otherwise it would be perfect.
2/ However, I really fail to see how ramp provides cover (or any other advantage).
In my opinion even Skyranger (not Skymarshall) without a ramp would be a lot safer... not to mention Skymarshall's additional protection.
If anything ramp makes it harder for you to spot aliens, although they can see (and shoot at) you.
And even if you are indeed lucky enough to spot them in mutual surprise, you will usually have to take one more step (or kneel down) because of no line of fire... and the alien(s) will reaction fire.
Ramp is a death trap...
Well I think speaking of being "offended" is simply childish. Whatever Skymarshall is, it is most definitely NOT a "Hellrazor's Perfect Dropship" (if such a thing exists at all - design your own dropship before throwing such large stones, Hellrazor). No. As I understand this, Skymarshall is basically a quickly prototyped dropship that tries to adress the major problems of the Skyranger - namely, being an Omaha-Beach style flying mass grave (and limited speed and troop capacity). Skymarshall solves some issues while introducing a few new issues. Normal stuff. If it is so bad a weapon in your Commander's eyes, don't use it at all. Definitely it forces changing your approach to the landing zone problem. But it's always your decision. Maybe there should be more varied dropship designs available for those who are dissatisfied with the Skymarshall and want to push the technology further towards perfection. Whatever they consider to be perfection.
The whole point (for me at least) has nothing to do with the ramp, or weather it is good or bad. It is from an aircraft design perspective. I cannot fathom a troop tansporter to be landing on level with the ground, having its wheels attached to the wings (do I need to go over with descriptions on this?) and the very fact that it has two boxes spawning out of thin air to provide cover. The whole thing reeks artificial easy mode. In contrast we can use the Thunderstorm, it provides you with a super alternative which you can use for sniping as well and has a huge cargo hold. Still though the design makes sense. I am not against tools to make my life easier but the design on this was made bad just to make it a safe skyranger. Which finds me against it. If we take the time to brainstorm this we could easily find altrenatives to redesign it without losing its utility.
But all things considered its small potatoes, my problem with it in reality is that it looks artificial in a place where attention to detail was paid.