Jst droneing on

Chris Woods · #1 March 18th, 2003, 02:29 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by bowzerdawg:
Drones are sort of like torpedos in naval warfare. Launch as many as you like. If you launch more than one drone, hold down the shift key and click on each drone. A red arrow symbol should be next to each drone. Then, all at once, have them all attack a target you want destroyed or damaged.

This, I beleive, is going to make a huge difference in my opinion of drones. If I use the above technique (shift-select and move them as a group to attack) will they all be in the same combat? My biggest problem with drones has been their "one at a time" attack method which makes it trivial for enemy fleets to blow them up. If I can send a good number (say 10) at an enemy fleet simultaniously then I can forsee drones being much more useful!

So, I guess I'm asking, if I shift-select drones and choose "Attack -> (target)" will they all be in the same combat?

Chris Woods

Slick · #2 March 18th, 2003, 02:35 AM

pooched?! LOL!

Yeah, you have to look at their advantages, which have already been mentioned, and use them appropriately. One huge advantage that has not yet been mentioned is that you can build them anywhere that you have extra cargo room; i.e. you don't need a spaceyard to build drones (or any other units) and thus you can build them in large numbers when you have some cash to burn and not have to worry about clogging up your spaceyards.

Slick.

p.s. I was going to say "en masse" instead of "in large numbers", but I am boycotting French. j/k

Suicide Junkie · #3 March 18th, 2003, 03:31 AM

Shift-Clicking for a temporary fleeting effect is cruicial. They will act like a fleet for up to one turn or until their orders are complete.

You can also use it to send multiple fleets of ships in at the same time.

For major assaults, sending in a pile of drones along with your ships will help a lot.

Taera · #4 March 18th, 2003, 04:25 AM

it might be good to put drones on your ships, with DONT LAUNCH strategy and use them to intercept those annoying colony ships, transports, limping enemies and so on.

Zarix · #5 March 18th, 2003, 03:29 PM

Drones are very good for defending warp points. When the enemy warps the point defence of the enemy has usually only one turn to kill your drones before the drones ram.

To make drones even better try making them different. A drone with a lot of armor can take a lot of damage. Drones have a built in +50% defence bonus so with EMC the defend bonus gets quite large. One drone takes out at least one mine so they can be used to sweep small mine fields.

In current Version (1.84) there is a bug in drones that makes them warp one at a time so attacking through a warp point is useless.

gregebowman · #6 March 18th, 2003, 05:53 PM

As one who's never used drones before, these tips make it sound very tempting to do so in the future. I think I'll try drones out the next time I start a game.

JLS · #7 March 18th, 2003, 07:18 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Zarix:
To make drones even better try making them different. A drone with a lot of armor can take a lot of damage. Drones have a built in +50% defence bonus so with EMC the defend bonus gets quite large. One drone takes out at least one mine so they can be used to sweep small mine fields.

This makes for a great planet buster