There have been numerous attempts to make Dreadnoughts 'more usefull', and to give them some form of transport option. These have all failed because all such attempts end up departing from the accepted 'fluff' for one of the most iconic units of the game.
Like many other situations in E:A you need to change your strategy when using them, rather than trying to change the rules / stats to make them fit your strategy.
Dreadnoughts can already be used in three ways:-
- As part of a garrison:- Devastators while 2x Dreadnoughts and a Hunter make a robust and 'shooty' garrison!
- Planet-falling by drop-pod allows the Dreadnoughts to be used in assault and also to provide cover for infantry in base contact.
- Transported in a Landing Craft allows them to fly on (or planetfall) as part of a formation. My favourite is to add them to Terminators and air-assault with a Landing Craft. This provides a really big assault and leaves a tough formation that is hard to shift, especially if they stay in cover. This works best where further air-assaults attack the same area and provide mutual support.
Basically you have to assume that they are likely to be relatively 'static', though they can boost shooting, assaults and formation size while making infantry harder to hit. This together with ATSKNF is well worth the 50points per unit.
The
only potential change relates to their armour value which in 40K is rather better than Space Marines, while here it is the same. This has also been extensively debated, and while a boost to 3+ was tried, IIRC general opinion went against this in the end.