Jst droneing on

[Chris Woods]

Hey all,

Just recently got SEIV:Gold after the whole MOO3 fiasco and after a few games I've come to the conclusion that drones seem to be basically worthless. They're really cool, though, so I was hoping that I'm just using them improperly.

Any drone tips out there, or are they just really bad in SEIV:Gold classic implementation? PD always seems to tear them apart, and even if one or two lands the cost vs. damage is simple to outrageous. I'd rather have a few ships.

Chris Woods

[Master Belisarius]

Originally posted by Chris Woods:
Hey all,

Just recently got SEIV:Gold after the whole MOO3 fiasco and after a few games I've come to the conclusion that drones seem to be basically worthless. They're really cool, though, so I was hoping that I'm just using them improperly.

Any drone tips out there, or are they just really bad in SEIV:Gold classic implementation? PD always seems to tear them apart, and even if one or two lands the cost vs. damage is simple to outrageous. I'd rather have a few ships.

Chris Woods

A few advantages that can see:
- They're cheap.
- They don't need maintenance.
- Could used as expendable scouts (including Solar Collectors you can extend their life).
- The Drones has 50% of deffensive bonus.
- You're not forced to put warheads in them: you could include other weapons (speciall with the Large drones).
- Launching them in big masses, you could rush any defenses and destroy key planets.

[Fyron]

Drones are generally only worth the costs to build them when you have a long period of peaceful buildup before war breaks out.

[Suicide Junkie]

Well for one thing, they don't cost maintenance.
During peacetime, you could build up quite a stash, and never have to pay a penny once they're built.

You can use them to kill small decoy enemies instead of dividing your main fleet to chase them down.

They'll do pretty good as WP scouts, too. Inspect the defenses, see what kind of firepower you'll need to win.
WP assaults would also be a big advantage to the drones, since they'd start out mixed right in with the enemies.
The PD will only get one shot, and by the start of the second combat round, almost all of the surviving drones will hit their targets.

[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. Personally, I only use them and drone carriers like using an attack submarines and I only attack ships but I don’t use them a lot. If you’re the player it makes the gameplay boring if you have to use drones all the time instead of space fleets vs space fleets and epic space battles. If the AI uses drones, then that makes the game more interesting sort of like if you’re on a merchant fleet being stalk by a lone German submarine or if you’re a military officer or radio operator in combat being stalked by a STA platoon (two man sniper platoon).

[QuarianRex]

I tend to use drones as expendable scouts for Neutral oriented races and such. The key to using drones offensively, though, is numbers. Overkill is the operative word here. The monster race in devnull mod does this to good effect. when you see 50+ drones heading toward your homeworld you are pretty much pooched. you may be able to take some out but enough will get through to glass you, and probably have enough left over for a couple others.

[Chris Woods]

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]

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]

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]

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.