Drones drones drones

Pocus · #1 May 8th, 2003, 06:44 PM

Newbie time again

How a drone differ from a small ship? I have trouble finding them a usage that a frigate or destroyer could not do.

Pros : they dont require upkeep
cons : once launched, cant be retrieved

Aside that, what are the differences? Which roles can they do in a superior way of a ship?

Aloofi · #2 May 8th, 2003, 06:57 PM

I got inspired by that movie, "The Impostor", and I've been using drones as strategy missiles, loaded with anti-planet warheads.
It works pretty good, though I think fighters are a more useful investment.

The only thing I don't like its that the AI never use them.......

oleg · #3 May 8th, 2003, 07:01 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Aloofi:
The only thing I don't like its that the AI never use them.......

Not true. Some custom races are moded to build drones and drone carriers.

Ragnarok · #4 May 8th, 2003, 07:34 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Aloofi:
The only thing I don't like its that the AI never use them.......

Play Devnull mod with the Space Monsters. They'll show you how to use drones.

Aloofi · #5 May 8th, 2003, 07:37 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by oleg:
Not true. Some custom races are moded to build drones and drone carriers.

I don't think I have ever played beyond 250 turns. That should be the reason why I haven't see them.

Fyron · #6 May 8th, 2003, 07:52 PM

The default races don't use them much. But, some modded races will use them long before turn 250.

Pocus · #7 May 8th, 2003, 08:25 PM

can the vets around be more precise? Do they use drones, and for which use?

Ruatha · #8 May 8th, 2003, 08:28 PM

Now you can use drones for recon, attack warp points.
They don't need to come home again, thus avoiding the stranded scout ship problem.

You can put alligience subverters on them, nasty.

Put solar panels on them and they Last longer.

Put beams on them and give them primary orders "some weapons range" instead of ram.

Make a cloaked drone launcher, load it with anti-planet drones, send it into your friends empires and park it in a storm, use when need arise.

If you have a surplus of minerals and mucho cargo space, build anti-ship drones to use just in case.

Generally though, they aren't all that valuable.. You won't win a game by using drones, I think.

[ May 08, 2003, 19:31: Message edited by: Ruatha ]

Phoenix-D · #9 May 8th, 2003, 08:38 PM

Another con for drones:

Micromanagement. LOTS of micromanagement. They don't stack and can't be combined into fleets.

Pocus · #10 May 8th, 2003, 09:03 PM

Ruatha : I see that drones can be used in many missions, but it seems that the ones you listed could have been done by ships.

So? drones are an added game feature which are redundant with what already existed pre-gold, or do they have special abilities which let them fare better than ships in some situations. ? I'm more and more inclined that they dont really add anything new to a game.