So has any one used the Drones Yet?

[PsychoTechFreak]

AFAIK they already got a maintenance bonus of 100%.

[dogscoff]

I found a good use for drones: I was up against an enemy that was sending carriers after an isolated outpost. I designed a cheap, slow PD drone and threw a few of them out whenever I saw an enemy carrier approaching. They would engage the carrier and wipe out loads of fighters before the carrier got to my planet.

I think the real advantage of drones will be in games where there is a long peace-time build up. A player can stockpile drones in peace time without paying the maintenence of ships (With none of that low-fat mothballing malarky.) This will prove handy for small empires.

The other advantage is that you can stockpile a huge attack capability and your allies won't be able to see it like they could if you had a mothballed attack fleet sitting in orbit of your homeworld.

[Arak Koba]

Very useful in inter-system bombardment.

I have created a few in a nearby star system to my enemy, and lobbing these drones at him when I see his fleets approach is nice (coupled with LR scanners). Also, I can hit his planets from here without having to send in high maintenance, logistics nightmare fleets.

All in all they look like a balanced addition to the game. Can anyone say SCUD missile?

[ 19 March 2002: Message edited by: Arak Koba ]

[PsychoTechFreak]

Drones-Newbie question, if the drones run out of supply they are gone. And the supplies decrease quickly even if the drone is waiting in the orbit. Do you equip them with quantum reactors or solar panels ? I am still not convinced about the cost relations if you compare drones with e.g. weapon platforms, which can also be filled with PD cannons, no maintenance, no disappearance.

I like your inter-system bombardment idea, Arak Koba.

[Gurduloo]

I haven't even built a drone yet, so forgive me if this question is stupid, but what kind of commands can you give to a drone? Can you tell it to enter a system and attack any enemy it sees? Or do you have to assign it a particular target?

[dogscoff]

The only commands you can give a drone are "attack" and maybe "self destruct" (or maybe not.) You can't even tell it "move to" or "warp". This is quite annoying really, especially since you can't attack something if you don't have a view of the system it's in.

[Sinapus]

quote:

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Originally posted by dogscoff:
The only commands you can give a drone are "attack" and maybe "self destruct" (or maybe not.) You can't even tell it "move to" or "warp". This is quite annoying really, especially since you can't attack something if you don't have a view of the system it's in.

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That's why I want the game to save your Last known scan of a system when you explore it.

(Which might cause nightmares if the *AI* can "remember" that... and send tons of anti-planet drones to your colonies.)

[PsychoTechFreak]

Omnipresent view of systems, anyone tried the drones with this ?