Drones

[Hotfoot]

Originally posted by tbontob:
I know next to nothing about drones...

How are drones harder to stop than CSM's? Drones have a damage resistance of 50, the same as CSM's. What am I missing here?

Drones have a defensive bonus of 50%, not a damage resistance of 50. Also, please note that missiles get slightly better damage resistance (or hitpoints, as it just measures how much damage they can take before they go boom) as they increase in tech level.

Drones can be fitted with armor, ECM, shields, shield regenerators, and even scattering/stealth armor. Why, if you felt so inclined, you could make a large anti-ship drone with a 140% defensive bonus, 12 movement, and a 600 damage anti-ship warhead, with 250 points of armor protecting it.

Also, drones require 5 supply per turn. Can you put a solar collector on it and let it "hang" in space until it is needed?

5 supply per turn? First I've heard of that, to be honest. But yes, you could slap a solar collector on one. That, or you could simply create a drone carrier ship, or space station, or just leave them on a colony until they are needed. Once they're launched, however, that's it, you can't recall them.

And finally, "They are also the only units that can travel through warp points." What does this mean in practice?

It means that, in practice, you can send them through a warp point and have them bombard enemy planets from several systems away, similar to ICBMs of the modern era. Alternatively, you can use them as disposable scouts and explorers, at least once the next patch comes out.

"Sir, we're getting a transmission from one of the Probe Droids..."

And, as someone else has noted previously, you can slap allegiance subverters on them to make them especially nasty little gits.

[ November 12, 2002, 07:29: Message edited by: Hotfoot ]