OT: Bug versus Feature

Gryphin · #1 February 13th, 2002, 07:40 PM

While I keep in mind that this is Sci Fi and does not represent todays world.
There are "drones" used today that are so small and built like powered gliders that most lower tech "sensors" can not pick them up. These drones can be programed to:
Move To XY
Use Pasive "Sensors"
Record the data internaly
Return to Base
Where the data is extracted
The observed parties never know it was there.

In referance to the AI minding the presence of drones in its system:
I would love to have short range hard to detect "reon drones" that could be reused X number of times.
I could see these drones being so small thay could move through mine fields and past satelites with out being detected.
The one limit would be:
You can't get the data till they return to your system or a "Mother Ship"
Again, this is based on drones being given a "Move To" about which I feel indifferent.

PvK · #2 February 13th, 2002, 10:34 PM

Nice idea and with Move-To, quite moddable (including bypassing mines). The idea of giving delayed-information reports saying what was there when they were is cool, but probably way too much work for MM to patch in just for this. Maybe if we get dated system information at some point.

Another major point is that no one suggesting move-to has suggested Clear Orders - units whose orders can't be cleared are certainly a lot less flexible than ships.

An additional restriction might be that the only way to give a drone an (non-attack? or all?) order would be if in the same sector as a friendly ship/base/colony - this would mean you could use move-to for exploration (especially if you could use the Explore order and stack it or set it to repeat), but drones would have to return to a friendly location to get new move orders.

PvK

dmm · #3 February 14th, 2002, 05:14 PM

FWIW, the CIA has been using remote-control drones in Afghanistan for both recon and attack. (They have 2 Hellfire missiles.) Granted, this is remote-control, but we're not yet ready for interstellar colonization either, so I think drone manufacturers have some time to develop more independent operation.

Slightly off-topic: One drone killed a group of Afghans that included a tall guy with bodyguards. They are now comparing the tall corpse's DNA against the DNA of bin Laden's relatives. I kid you not.