Suggested RC Drones

[BJammin]

I'm sure this has been suggested at least once before in a thread lost somewhere to time (possibly). That aside, this could be a neat little feature to have in the game.

Basically, you could have two ships, one 'parent ship' and one 'drone ship' (now that fleets have been implemented, this mechanic should be easy to add). The drone ship would likely be docked to the parent ship. To go along with the block-based system SM is so fond of using, let's say there's a new 'drone controller' block. Similar to wireless logic, it'll enable two separate entities to directly interact with each other. This block could then be placed on either the drone or the parent (this can be decided later to see which works best in-game) then linked to the to the cores of the two ships to make a connection.

From the parent ship, the pilot would select the drone controller from the hotbar, and transfer control to the drone. The pilot would still be in the parent ship, but would view everything from the drone's perspective either until they release control, or it is destroyed. While the pilot is busy with the drone, the parent ship could be set to either use AI temporarily, or simply stop in place.

This could have multiple applications to make some of the pre-existing mechanics more entertaining. Faction espionage could be made more interesting through the use of unmanned stealth drones. Warheads could be used in guided torpedoes (no need for awkward aiming or suicide missions). Check in on a ship/station in another sector without having to travel there yourself. There are a number of fun applications such a system could be used for.

 

[Theats]

It's been a while since I've played, buy perhaps there could be a way to activate a camera on a drone that is linked to a computer module on the mothership?

I think this would be really cool for RC Torpedoes.

 

[spunkiethefirst]

I would keep it limited to a certain sector distance from the player controlled ship to avoid riskless drone terrorism and if the drone exceeds that range then it will kick player off control and return within mothership range.

 

[BJammin]

I would keep it limited to a certain sector distance from the player controlled ship to avoid riskless drone terrorism and if the drone exceeds that range then it will kick player off control and return within mothership range.

And possibly limit the size of drones in some way to prevent remote-controlled titans...

 

[Nickizzy]

I like this.

It could have two blocks, a drone computer and a drone controller. The computer would go on the parent ship, and the controller on the drone. Drone computers could have any number of drones you could link it to, so you could give people 5 ships(or lives( 5 copies), if in tourniment style) or something. This would make it way more fun to have copilots if you could set up banks(drone carrier!!!) of computers for players to enter. This- wait, this solves the diverse fleet problem! You don't need any ship undeathinators or crazy setups if you can pilot a drone from the inside of the carrier! This is awsome! Alert the community!

[Come see this!]

[You to!]

[And you as well!]

Okay, I just went out to another thread with 40+ posts and quoted a couple of people who I see a lot and might want to see this so...

Please no hates? Just look at the potential.

[EDIT] I think some of you are on the counsel as well. Maybe. I cannot tell. Hope so.

 

[Lecic]

I've had a similar idea in my head before. It's definitely something I'd like to see in the game. I'd imagine we'll see a system like this for crew to RC turrets as well.

 

[Nickizzy]

I'd imagine we'll see a system like this for crew to RC turrets as well.

That would be a really good function for them. Almost all copiloting issues could be solved this way. One thing I forgot to mention is that players in the drone should override, unless the computer and controller both set remote override on.

I imagine this would be great for everything from compitions and events (making lives and respawns easier) to diverse fleets(because of the ability of control ships and carriers) to factions(the before mentioned spy drones, I would suggest that drone control can have a max range of 5 sectors away from the parent(at 4 sectors it gives you a warning, 4.5 it begins an effect similar to the sun damage, flashing grey or something and saying"max range"), even to torpedo control.
[DOUBLEPOST=1461719372,1461719177][/DOUBLEPOST]An extra thing to mention is the ability to make the camera view come from either the drone or from one of the parent ship's cameras. You could fly and shoot and scan and jump(maybe, not out of range definately) all you want in the drone, but you could not edit it. There would be no build mode.

 

[BJammin]

Wow, I'm impressed at the support some of you guys are giving for this idea. Honestly, I only thought of it when I thought about how cool guided missiles could be in the game. All of these other applications are awesome as well (especially when used as 'respawns' for competitions).

I would suggest that drone control can have a max range of 5 sectors away from the parent(at 4 sectors it gives you a warning, 4.5 it begins an effect similar to the sun damage, flashing grey or something and saying"max range"), even to torpedo control.

This is a cool idea for distance restriction. It could give you the flashing screen like you mentioned, and maybe a time limit notification for X amount of time before control is revoked.

 

[jstenholt]

I've always assumed that this was a semi-confirmed feature. Maybe not. I'm behind it, but very sure that this is not the first time I've seen this idea.