What good are drones? [EOM]
 

Re: What good are drones? [EOM]
 

No Maintenance

Able to be put in bays/hangars

Fits in Cargo

Does not use supplies of the Launching Ship

Added bonuses than Ships/fighters with warheads such as Increased movements

Increased Survival than Seekers

Re: What good are drones? [EOM]
 

I confess I have had the same question. The just seem so expensive to build and research to me that I've never used them. Do people use them much?

Re: What good are drones? [EOM]
 

Unfortunately, they are too weak for general use.

Re: What good are drones? [EOM]
 

it depends on what use you want them for, I have used them, especially in wormhole defense, put 60-80 drones on wormhole with other defenses and then can make a difference. yes they are expensive, but again, depends on how you use them and how you have them implemented in your various offensive/defensive strategies.... example, I had a number of battles (TDM) at wormholes, launched 50-80 drones, (tactical), along with my defending fleet & bases, they definitly put the hurt on enemy fleet of 81 ships, didn't destroy them, but did take some out and damaged others... did make a difference, also use drones launched from planets to take out single enemy shps coming thru my systems and against colony ships...

just some ideas mac

Re: What good are drones? [EOM]
 

I really should stop with these plugs (especially considering it isn't even publically available), but...

...In my mod, I made Ion, Tachyon, Null-Space, EMP, Plague, Neutron, Radiation, etc., Versions of drone warheads for my mod -- they're researched as part of their respective weapons categories (i.e. you get Anti-Planet Neutron Warheads if you have Drones and Planetary Weapons). Doubled all of their damage, too.

Drones are definitely useful once you make them useful. =)

Re: What good are drones? [EOM]
 

Yes, I agree. Drones are a little weak, but can be made more useful in mods. And since it is shameless plug time: check out DevnullMod http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif . We added drone engines that only cost about half as much as regular engines. Since engines make the bulk of the drone cost, that helps making them more useful. Advanced engines use less fuel. Oh, and I just added solar sails for drones as well http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif .

Rollo

Re: What good are drones? [EOM]
 

Most people seem to think that drones aren't very useful. I disagree. Drones are very powerful but they need different strategies then ships.

They are a bit expensive to build but no maintenance makes them much cheaper in long run. Drones are very cheap to research. They have big defence bonus. A drove with EMC III has +110 defence bonus. A large drone with all engines has room for EMC and 5 anti-ship warheads. One of those drones can do 3000 damage.

Re: What good are drones? [EOM]
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Drones can be researched immediately even with low tech start. If you compare them to ships they are much cheaper. To get a good drone you need to research drones, EMC and engines. To get a good ship you need to research ships, engines, weapons, sensors, EMC and armor/shields.

Re: What good are drones? [EOM]
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">I heard that special damage types for drone warheads don't work, at least not in the current Version of SE4. Sorry!