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- - Drones!! (http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/showthread.php?t=4176)

i want drones, and i think they can be modded in to the game using VehicleSize.txt, TechArea.txt and maybe Component.txt.

By editing Vehiclesize.txt you could make a ship hull with special abilities and call it Small/Medium/Large drone.

In TechArea.txt you can add a Drone tech and maybe some other stuff for Drones, but they will also be usable by ships, since a drone is a ship.

But first we need to know what drones do, how do you see them and what should there limitations be.

Some things that look obvious to me:
1. Drones are cheaper than normal ship, not always, but generally speaking they should be cheaper i think, and can be built in one or two turns.
2. Drones are unmanned, problem here because ship-hulls need a bridge/life support/crew quarters or a master computer to have max. movement, this problem can be solved by adding those abilities to the hull in VehicleSize.txt.
3. Drones are smaller than ships, Large Drone could 200kt max, Small Drone maybe 50kt
4. Drones are expendable, the hull should have a Self-Destruct ability, like Mines.
5. Drones can warp, that why i chose them to be ship and not fighters.

i already modded these thing in a limited way, and they work.

What are your ideas on Drones, and what would you use them for, given the 5 "rules" i just gave.

I think of them as either cruise missiles or as UAVs. So I don't think they should carry any weapons except:
warheads (kamikaze strategy)
planet-attacking weapons
sensors

I also think they should be "fire and forget" which means that they could only take orders once. No way to implement that, probably.

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:<HR>Originally posted by dmm:
I think of them as either cruise missiles or as UAVs. So I don't think they should carry any weapons except:
warheads (kamikaze strategy)
planet-attacking weapons
sensors

I also think they should be "fire and forget" which means that they could only take orders once. No way to implement that, probably.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

i think that's what Malfador intended them to be, but i don't think what you're suggesting is possible now.

Forgot to post this, here are the fields that SE4 wants from you if you create a Vehicle Size with Vehicle Type := Drone

Launched from Ship := True/False
Launched from Planet := True/False
Random Explorer := True/False
Seeks towards Target := True/False
Seeks towards Sector := True/False
Hits Target := True/False
Launch/Loads Troops := True/False
Launch/Loads Mines := True/False
Launch/Loads Sats := True/False
Refuels Target := True/False
Requires Launcher := True/False

now we all know what we're missing, and what they were originally meant for.

Actually, ships need bridge, life support, and crew quarters because they have been given that requirement in the VehicleSize.txt file.

Requirement Must Have Bridge := True
Requirement Can Have Aux Con := True
Requirement Min Life Support := 1
Requirement Min Crew Quarters := 1
Requirement Uses Engines := True

Just change the Life Support/Crew Quarters requirement on your 'drones' to '0' and see if that doesn't remove the problem. Then you can just make a "drone computer core" like the one for satellites to handle the bridge requirements.

Other than that, the 'fire and forget' quality of drones is hard to recreate this way. They are meant to be given a mission and then be completely autonomous. So, you should NOT be able to change their orders after giving them a mission.

I like the missions described in the old vehiclesize file for drones. They could carry cargo, like mines, sats, WPs, or troops, and drop the cargo at a remote location then 'disappear' ('self-destruct' I guess). So, you could lay minefields or sat Groups without needing ships, and you could build up planet defenses, or possibly invade planets, without ships. You could also fill a drone with supplies and 'fire' it at one of your own ships. When the drone arrived it would transfer its supplies to the ship and then 'vanish' as usual. Remote resupply without risking unarmed 'tanker' ships in dangerous areas! Coolness! The only other uses I can think of for drones are as "cruise missile" type weapons as has been discussed. Put a plain old warhead on them, or maybe a special weapon like a plague bomb or a smart bomb, and fire at planets deep within enemy territory. If they don't get through, it's not the same loss as a ship with crew. If they do, it's a very cheap and effective way to damage the enemy.

Oops, just thought of another use. A "wild weasel" drone that has some sort of electronic device in it which makes it look like a SHIP to your enemy. Now that would be cool. You could make a flight of drones look like a fleet of battleships and it would take a direct engagement to tell the difference. You could play all sorts of defensive or offensive shell games with that.

[This message has been edited by Baron Munchausen (edited 18 September 2001).]

I have tried to set Requirement Min Life Support and Requirement Min Crew Quarters to zero. But, this resulted in a max movement of two. The only way that I could get around it was to give my "drone" the Ship Life Support and Ship Crew Quarters Abilities. I also gave my drone the Ship Bridge, Extra Movement Generation and Combat Movement Abilities to solve my problem with drone movement. On my drones you can only choose one component, the warhead. This also solved a problem with placing unwanted components on drones.

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Never Give up, Never Surrender!

Sure would be interesting to see these in. http://www.shrapnelgames.com/ubb/images/icons/icon7.gif

Kadste, instead of setting the requirement to 0, try changing the "Requires Life Support" to false.

Phoenix-D

Yes, Ships must have "Ship Life Support", "Ship Crew Quarters" and "Ship Bridge" Abilities to get max movement.

Weapon Abilities do not seem to work though. I tried to give my drone a "Mine Sweeping" Ability, but it never swept mines. When I added it as a component it will sweep mines.

Because my drones are ships, they can have components. Give them a size of 30 and one mine sweeping component.

Added Abilities for movement to model the way I wanted my drones to move.

Cannot get the drone to launch or get stored as cargo, though. You have to manage them as ships in a fleet.

------------------
Never Give up, Never Surrender!

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:<HR>Originally posted by Kadste :
On my drones you can only choose one component, the warhead. This also solved a problem with placing unwanted components on drones.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:<HR>Because my drones are ships, they can have components. Give them a size of 30 and one mine sweeping component.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

http://www.shrapnelgames.com/ubb/ima...s/confused.gif now i lost it, are you saying your drones can only have warheads, or can they have any shipcomponent

[This message has been edited by LemmyM (edited 19 September 2001).]