Drone and Anti-Drone Tactics? - Page 6

Desert Rat · #51 February 1st, 2002, 01:14 AM

Thanks for the info Rollo. Kept looking for a button, and forgot about the shortcuts.

Desert Rat

PvK · #52 February 1st, 2002, 01:55 AM

The "drones will automatically select a target when their target is destroyed" applies to tactical combat, but not at the system level.

PvK

Jourin · #53 February 5th, 2002, 12:39 AM

Is the code fix to allow drones to warp or "move to" in work? Will this bug be fixed for the Gold release in Feb?

Mephisto · #54 February 5th, 2002, 01:05 AM

quote:
Originally posted by Jourin:
Is the code fix to allow drones to warp or "move to" in work? Will this bug be fixed for the Gold release in Feb?

It is no bug but a design decision. It might get altered but don't count on.

Q · #55 February 5th, 2002, 12:10 PM

It may be not a bug but it is a mistake IMHO that the drones can't be used for reconnaissance due to the lack of the "warp" / "move to" command.
The way it is now drones are actually just large long range missiles.

Mephisto · #56 February 5th, 2002, 03:50 PM

quote:
Originally posted by Q:
It may be not a bug but it is a mistake IMHO that the drones can't be used for reconnaissance due to the lack of the "warp" / "move to" command.
The way it is now drones are actually just large long range missiles.

Of course this is open to discussion. I just wanted to point out that the were deliberately designed to be cruise missiles and nothing else. If this is good or bad, what the fans want or don�t want, is an entirely different matter.

Personally I think it is a wise decision. If they can move around and warp they are nothing less then small ships without maintenance that can be build without a spaceyard and are very fast. Why should anyone build small ships instead?

Jourin · #57 February 5th, 2002, 06:19 PM

The purpose of drones is to do missions you would not assign to manned ships.

High risk recon like a warp point in a contested sector.
Mine clearing when the chance of a mine sweeper being destroyed.
Raming or the cruise missile attack.

I have waited for drones primarily for the first two abilities and I still won't have them. Currently drones are only working 1/3 of the time. Of course it is a bug. To say it is a feature is like comparing MM to Microsoft who routinely classifies all their bugs as features. I am very disappointed that MM is releasing the Gold Version with such a major bug! What happened to MM's vaunted "won't release with a know bug policy"!

Again I am very disappointed!

dmm · #58 February 5th, 2002, 06:43 PM

quote:
Originally posted by Jourin:
The purpose of drones is to do missions you would not assign to manned ships.

My evil emperor uses products of conception (POCs) for that role. Gestating females who exercise their right to choose can get the POC removed at a gov't clinic free of charge. It then goes into an artificial gestation chamber for maturation. It is then raised by other POCs until the state decides what to do with it. There is no moral problem with assigning POCs to dangerous space missions, since they are not people.

Q · #59 February 5th, 2002, 09:57 PM

quote:
Originally posted by [K126]Mephisto:

Of course this is open to discussion. I just wanted to point out that the were deliberately designed to be cruise missiles and nothing else. If this is good or bad, what the fans want or don’t want, is an entirely different matter.
Personally I think it is a wise decision. If they can move around and warp they are nothing less then small ships without maintenance that can be build without a spaceyard and are very fast. Why should anyone build small ships instead?

I respectfully disagree.
The main disadvantage of drones compared to ships is their limited life span. So drones will not replace small ships.
In my very humble opinion MM made the same mistake as with the fighters in the very early SE IV release: The small fighters with only 10kT were just not useful. It is a pity to introduce features that will not be used. May be MM was afraid that drones would get too powerful, but now I believe we are on the opposite:
After what I have seen with the demo I probably will use still much more fighters than drones. And for the AI using drones I better say nothing.

However I am absolutely convinced that drones can be a great addition to the game, if some changes are made.

Baron Munchausen · #60 February 5th, 2002, 11:32 PM

Since drones use ship engines in the default config they are very, very expensive for expendable units. You will pay about 1/2 the cost of a fully equipped cruiser and yet have to throw it away when the drone is launched. Either drones should use fighter engines (in which case they must be moved out of fighter tech levels to some 'smaller components' field) or there needs to be a special set of drone engines that are less expensive. In my personal mod I've made the special engines -- half the size and less than half the cost (but more than fighter engines) -- and this helps a great deal with the cost. They still cost about as much as a satellite, which is multi-use while a drone is not, but that's better than half the cost of a cruiser!

As far as explore and patrol, yes, I posted several times in the beta forums that they would be flooded with requests for these two functions if they didn't include them. This is the FIRST use that most people think of for them, not combat. All I can say is, send in those emails.

I hope he will implement remote refueling, too, but that might be more difficult.