ANY ball having carry issues is most likely being thrown on the wrong pattern or wrong line.
A balls carry power is based on where and when it reacts to the oil pattern, and you can make a plastic ball strike on the right condition.
If you want to stay withing the STORM line, a tropical is going to be about all you have for drier conditions as the new FAST has a decent core and R2S cover which makes it more than strong enough for medium conditions and maybe too strong for truly dry conditions.
The tropical has a pancake allright, but also has an inner piece that creates diferential, which allows the ball to flare and finish better than a ball with just a pancake.
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"The difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits."
Albert Einstein