Drone questions!
 

Still a newbie, so I get to ask silly questions!

1. Is there a way to group drones? I know they can't be fleeted, but if the only way to move them is with shift-click, doesn't that mean that when they attack a fleet, they will enter combat one at a time??

2. I tested my drones in a simulation against an enemy ship with only missiles and PD weapons. In the simulator, he moved into attack range, but was unable (or unwilling) to fire at the drones. Are they like satellites in that respect, or was it an AI problem?

3. Do drones have accuracy, or do they always hit?

4. If I create a drone with an anti-planet warhead, can I attack any planet not controlled by me, or does it have to have an enemy colony on it?

Thanks!

Re: Drone questions!
 

1.) Yes if you group them, they will attack at the same time.
2.) Missiles can't target drones in the unmodded game, but the point defense cannons should fire automatically when the drones come into their range. Are you sure they were in range of the PDC??
3.) As far as I know ramming hits always.
4.) You cannot ram or attack allies.

Re: Drone questions!
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Sorry, misread. So, if you shift-right click, drones will all attack at the same time? This is different from ships grouped in the same way, IIRC. I guess I will experiment with this sometime soo.

[ July 15, 2002, 19:49: Message edited by: sachmo ]

Re: Drone questions!
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">I have heard this before, but I don't use drones much. This does work? My experience with ships that were not fleeted was that they attack seperatly, so I expected this to not work. If it doesn't work though it would be bad for the drones, so I suppose he must have changed that specifically. My tests were all pre-Gold. Hey maybe non-fleeted ships will attack simultaneously now. I should test that again.

Geoschmo

Re: Drone questions!
 

To confirm it once more:
In SE IV Gold Version 1.67 drones that are grouped (by right clicking) will attack together not individually.

[ July 15, 2002, 19:55: Message edited by: Q ]

Re: Drone questions!
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">I have heard this before, but I don't use drones much. This does work? My experience with ships that were not fleeted was that they attack seperatly, so I expected this to not work. If it doesn't work though it would be bad for the drones, so I suppose he must have changed that specifically. My tests were all pre-Gold. Hey maybe non-fleeted ships will attack simultaneously now. I should test that again.

Geoschmo</font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">In a simultaneous mode game I think that even drones will only attack 'together' if they have the same movement rate. And similarly ships must have the same movement rate. If you use shift-click in sequential mode to move several things -- ships, fleets, units -- they move together the first turn, but then move seperately after the first turn.

Re: Drone questions!
 

Awesome! thanks a ton, guys!

Re: Drone questions!
 

Just my observation in a turn based game:
Group of a ship with 12 movement points and a drone of 11 movement points given an attack order to a target that is 12 sectors away. The group will move 11 sectors together and then stop. The ship will not use its remaining movement point.

[ July 16, 2002, 10:18: Message edited by: Q ]

Re: Drone questions!
 

You people have actually used drones? http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/shock.gif

I guess I am a moron. I could not get them to work. Or at least I didn't try very hard to get them to work. I will have to try it again. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

Re: Drone questions!
 

I'm still not convinced of their utility, but I'm willing to try again in my new Proportions 2.3 game - it's possible to build up a useful stockpile of such things in that.
Steve.

Re: Drone questions!
 

Well I hope you forgive me some shameless self-promotion, but if you try the QMod I posted in the mod section you might find drones quite useful. Especially for races that have the psychic racial trait or in my mod the assimilation trait.

Re: Drone questions!
 

Drones can be used quite effectively, if used intelligently and skillfully. They aren't a replacement for ships - they have different strengths and weaknesses.

PvK

Re: Drone questions!
 

I think it would be very cool to be able to put planet blower upers on them, then they oculd actually do something rather than just ram people.

Or, better yet, along the lines of teh genisis device thread a while back (too lazy to find)

Re: Drone questions!
 

I don't think a drone can perform stellar manipulations. That's a special function on the command bar, and I bet it can only be selected by ships or bases. This is just as well. Since drones can be made immune to mines, a drone with a star-destroyer and cloaking could be an unstoppable doomsday weapon.

If the 'special' damage types are fixed to work with warheads, that will be good enough.

Re: Drone questions!
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">How can you make them immune to mines? Or do you mean by modding?

Mark

Re: Drone questions!
 

It's a setting in SETTINGS.TXT like so many other things. Drones and mines can both optionally be made immune to mines.

Re: Drone questions!
 

I'm a little confused by these references to shift-right clicks. Everything I've ever multi-selected has been with shift-left clicks; I wouldn't have expected shift-right to work at all.

[ July 18, 2002, 04:23: Message edited by: capnq ]

Re: Drone questions!
 

Many people get the two confused. I guess because the index finger is the 'dominant' finger on most people's hand, it's quite common to call a click of the LEFT mouse button a 'right-click' and a click of the RIGHT mouse button (with the 'other' fingers) a LEFT click. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

Re: Drone questions!
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">I meant to get back to this earlier, but real-life has been seriously interfering with my ability to double-check things.

It appears to me that drones do not consistently trigger PDC; in general, it seems like they fire when the PDC ship moves, but not when the drone moves. I have never seen PDC on a weapon platform fire on a drone unless I targeted them manually in Tactical. (This was the most frustrating thing I noticed in the Drone Wars scenario.) I have seen drones start outside a ship's PDC range, then close with the ship and ram it without being fired on.

Re: Drone questions!
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">This is reported to be fixed in the latest beta history. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif