The ultimate drone R&D thread

[Loadout]

You mean that it's incredibly bugged :p . OD is just supposed to triple raw damage while increasing the power consumption by a factor of 6.

Probably so. Would certainly explain why it's confusing as all getup.

Although multiplying damage effectively by 6x (2x then 3x )for a 6x power increase is still reasonable. Very Space efficient too. Whenever it gets fixed, if ever, it'll still be a fair deal space wise, only using about 2/3 of the space for the full damage. On smaller ships, namely drones this seems pretty future proof as it fits right into our general requirements for small construction w/ high damage.

 

[Loadout]

So using all the discussed information so far I've created an ultra small drone with as much of the information gathered in mind as possible.

I present the Flea.

Stats:

• 7x7x5 - fits in the default docking box with some room to spare
• Balanced energy regen - everything out gets regen'd before it can recharge for the next shot
• Thrust approximately 1:1 - (slightly higher)
• Small shields - just for glancing blows since serious efforts will Penetrate regardless. 681 shield hp. Only 1 regen block so as not to waste space.
• Weapon Computers have been separated so it can be bisected (cut down the middle) and still shoot at you.
• Dual Missiles with OverDrive for extra damage, and a lockon computer(damage beam no blocks connected).
• Computers are easily accessible from the outside to allow 'hot-swapping' of weapons if need be.
• Total cost per drone is only 25k +tax

All in all i'm quite pleased with the design as it's small but effective for it's size. With the added bonus of being able to easily swap weapons out at any time it's more modular than I had originally intended it to be. Now I have to give my carrier a bad case of fleas...

 

[Keptick]

So using all the discussed information so far I've created an ultra small drone with as much of the information gathered in mind as possible.

I present the Flea.

Stats:

• 7x7x5 - fits in the default docking box with some room to spare
• Balanced energy regen - everything out gets regen'd before it can recharge for the next shot
• Thrust approximately 1:1 - (slightly higher)
• Small shields - just for glancing blows since serious efforts will Penetrate regardless. 681 shield hp. Only 1 regen block so as not to waste space.
• Weapon Computers have been separated so it can be bisected (cut down the middle) and still shoot at you.
• Dual Missiles with OverDrive for extra damage, and a lockon computer(damage beam no blocks connected).
• Computers are easily accessible from the outside to allow 'hot-swapping' of weapons if need be.
• Total cost per drone is only 25k +tax

All in all i'm quite pleased with the design as it's small but effective for it's size. With the added bonus of being able to easily swap weapons out at any time it's more modular than I had originally intended it to be. Now I have to give my carrier a bad case of fleas...

I really like it :D
However, I thought that the default docking space was 5x5x5.

 

[Loadout]

However, I thought that the default docking space was 5x5x5.

Just double checked, it's a 7x7x7 area.

Bigger than ya thought @keptick

 

[Keptick]

I'm glad to be wrong! That means that my skoomdrone fits in a single block docking box :P

 

[Thalanor]

Ow, how cute :D minidrones! At a cost of only 25k you should store quite a large amount of them.
Need to finish my turreted drone... took me 6 hours to design the non-turret part. Design really is tricky if you need every systems block you can have.

 

[Loadout]

So I was reading the news update about Faction Points and Scanners and what not. It got me thinking about a situation that'll probably happen quite frequently in multi-player environs. What with player deaths now causing a loss of all important FPs, would a drone ship be an ideal "scanner ship" as @schema called it? So here it is...

You're relaxing in the lounge of your factions home-base-station enjoying some lasagna and beer when an alarm suddenly goes off.

Intruder detected in Sector ....

As the on duty faction member present, it's your job to immediately respond to threats. A first respond-er sort of deal. Would a drone carrier, albeit a smaller one carrying maybe 8 small drones or so, be such an ideal first respond-er ship?
Given an unknown enemy, the risk of losing those all important Faction Points is a bit daunting. They can only be gained through relatively obtuse means and they're literally the blood of your faction's empire. So having at least a meat shield to respond to intruders, be they pesky pirates or insidious invaders, seems almost mandatory unless you want to lose FP and die from under-preparedness.

Having said all that it's got me thinking and of course thinking leads to scheming and plotting and eventually empires falling, so now i'm going to sketch me up a small scale drone carrier.... I shall call this... I don't know.... but it'll have Fleas!

 

[Gerion]

So I was reading the news update about Faction Points and Scanners and what not. It got me thinking about a situation that'll probably happen quite frequently in multi-player environs. What with player deaths now causing a loss of all important FPs, would a drone ship be an ideal "scanner ship" as @schema called it? So here it is...

You're relaxing in the lounge of your factions home-base-station enjoying some lasagna and beer when an alarm suddenly goes off.

Intruder detected in Sector ....

As the on duty faction member present, it's your job to immediately respond to threats. A first respond-er sort of deal. Would a drone carrier, albeit a smaller one carrying maybe 8 small drones or so, be such an ideal first respond-er ship?
Given an unknown enemy, the risk of losing those all important Faction Points is a bit daunting. They can only be gained through relatively obtuse means and they're literally the blood of your faction's empire. So having at least a meat shield to respond to intruders, be they pesky pirates or insidious invaders, seems almost mandatory unless you want to lose FP and die from under-preparedness.

Having said all that it's got me thinking and of course thinking leads to scheming and plotting and eventually empires falling, so now i'm going to sketch me up a small scale drone carrier.... I shall call this... I don't know.... but it'll have Fleas!

I never liked beer to my lasagne... But then again, I dont like beer in general.

And yes, having the drones to eat the damage while you escape because @keptick brought his little pet-titan along to chew on some toys would probably be a good idea.

 

[Keptick]

So I was reading the news update about Faction Points and Scanners and what not. It got me thinking about a situation that'll probably happen quite frequently in multi-player environs. What with player deaths now causing a loss of all important FPs, would a drone ship be an ideal "scanner ship" as @schema called it? So here it is...

You're relaxing in the lounge of your factions home-base-station enjoying some lasagna and beer when an alarm suddenly goes off.

Intruder detected in Sector ....

As the on duty faction member present, it's your job to immediately respond to threats. A first respond-er sort of deal. Would a drone carrier, albeit a smaller one carrying maybe 8 small drones or so, be such an ideal first respond-er ship?
Given an unknown enemy, the risk of losing those all important Faction Points is a bit daunting. They can only be gained through relatively obtuse means and they're literally the blood of your faction's empire. So having at least a meat shield to respond to intruders, be they pesky pirates or insidious invaders, seems almost mandatory unless you want to lose FP and die from under-preparedness.

Having said all that it's got me thinking and of course thinking leads to scheming and plotting and eventually empires falling, so now i'm going to sketch me up a small scale drone carrier.... I shall call this... I don't know.... but it'll have Fleas!

Naaaaaaaaaaaaaah, I'd just take the Charon out for a joy ride. Doesn't matter what the threat is, it won't last for long :p. Just kidding, I'd probably fly out with a small interceptor craft equipped with overdrive, cloak and a radar (because the threat would be long gone by the time I turn my titan to face the right direction).

Oh, and call your ship da'dog

 

[Loadout]

Naaaaaaaaaaaaaah, I'd just take the Charon out for a joy ride. Doesn't matter what the threat is, it won't last for long :p. Just kidding, I'd probably fly out with a small interceptor craft equipped with overdrive, cloak and a radar (because the threat would be long gone by the time I turn my titan to face the right direction).

Oh, and call your ship da'dog

I was thinking radar, and overdrive (for quick escapes) would be a must. Jump drive as well, and it'll probably be something dog related. I've got a dog right by my shoulder licking my ear so... definitely dog-theme inspiration going on over here.

 

[ltmauve]

Hey guys, I know I'm a bit late on this part of the topic, but I have some news on using swarmers against drones: It depends on speed.
If the swarm missile is going about 100m/s it's perfect for arcing back and swatting drones on your flanks. If its going faster, then no arcing around and the drones can fly anywhere they like around your ship without getting hit, making them useless.
Now the problem is that the swarm missile is currently set up in vanilla config as a "nerf," meaning the speed decreases as the number of missiles increases. In other words, in order to have effective swarmers, you need to freeze the server up with about 600 missiles per second. I have already informed the devs about this, and have not yet received a response.

 

[Loadout]

Hey guys, I know I'm a bit late on this part of the topic, but I have some news on using swarmers against drones: It depends on speed.
If the swarm missile is going about 100m/s it's perfect for arcing back and swatting drones on your flanks. If its going faster, then no arcing around and the drones can fly anywhere they like around your ship without getting hit, making them useless.
Now the problem is that the swarm missile is currently set up in vanilla config as a "nerf," meaning the speed decreases as the number of missiles increases. In other words, in order to have effective swarmers, you need to freeze the server up with about 600 missiles per second. I have already informed the devs about this, and have not yet received a response.

Yikes! 600 per second? That's a hefty chunk of explosive projectiles there, admittedly I think swarms missiles are the worst option though. They target haphazardly and only occasionally target something important. Much better off using large numbers of ~equal size turrets. Cheap turrets are probably a better option as well. If you're planning to counter numbers with numbers mines are also quite effective, be they push or otherwise.

Edit: Just had an idea, proximity explosions regarding missiles. Should they sweep past, and barely miss they'll pop anyway. It would certainly stop the endless circle dance... in most cases.

 

[Thalanor]

The faction points thing got me thinking too. And my solution is going to be --
200 mass (including turrets) heavy drones (still WIP, these) deployed in masses as sector defense (randomly floating around). Either a sleeper rack with a proximity activator (if there is any way to do this, like maybe a bobby-core-pulse comp nanoship in a hollow cube made of activation blocks) or just buy racks and dump their contents around my base.
They could be positioned to cover all the sector(s) the station turrets won't reach :D Also, their design will include turrets that blend in well with the actual drone so that when the turrets begin to turn, the drone looks like it "unpacks" itself from it's boxed transportation state.


PS:

Naaaaaaaaaaaaaah, I'd just take the Charon out for a joy ride

"This is the XO -- we have now commenced acceleration. Snacks and drinks will be served once we have approached cruising speed in about four hours!"

 

[Qweesdy]

Intruder detected in Sector ....

As the on duty faction member present, it's your job to immediately respond to threats. A first respond-er sort of deal. Would a drone carrier, albeit a smaller one carrying maybe 8 small drones or so, be such an ideal first respond-er ship?

My ideal first responder ship would be a perma-cloaker equipped with jump drive and scanner (and maybe some missiles in case the intruder is small and easily disposed of); so that I can check out the intruder/s and follow them (while reporting everything back to the other faction members) without the intruder/s knowing.

Note: Jump drive can be used while cloaked, and (by setting your base's coordinates in the nav. computer) is an extremely fast way to return to base if you need to get into a larger warship quickly.

 

[ltmauve]

Yikes! 600 per second? That's a hefty chunk of explosive projectiles there, admittedly I think swarms missiles are the worst option though. They target haphazardly and only occasionally target something important. Much better off using large numbers of ~equal size turrets. Cheap turrets are probably a better option as well. If you're planning to counter numbers with numbers mines are also quite effective, be they push or otherwise.

Edit: Just had an idea, proximity explosions regarding missiles. Should they sweep past, and barely miss they'll pop anyway. It would certainly stop the endless circle dance... in most cases.

Yeah, I have a system on my cruiser with 450 tubes. It does 30 missiles per second because I have no blocks under the secondary. When I first built it, I had full secondaries, and it froze the server in a second. The new version also has better logic.

Proximity-fused missiles, hmmm....

 

[Gerion]

Proximity explosion secondary was planned for the minelayer weapon, but that got never finished. Would have been nice for flak cannons. Although i would like it more for as an effect block. Scattercannon with prox-charges, swarm missiles exploding in a drone swarm... Oh, the dreams

 

[Thalanor]

Proximity mines exploding in a drone swarm? you call that a dream? you heartless person
Mass murderer! Go get 'em, my minions! Feast on their scrap!

 

[Gerion]

Proximity mines exploding in a drone swarm? you call that a dream? you heartless person
Mass murderer! Go get 'em, my minions! Feast on their scrap!

Technically, your drones are heartless too...

 

[Keptick]

Technically, your drones are heartless too...

So? Go my minions! Flood his coms with 10yo COD addict frustration!

 

[Thalanor]

Troll drones, oh yes. In fact, I have found drones are an excellent source not only of damage, but also of (hostile) frustration. Currently experimenting with EMP effect beams as support weapons on drones. A large group of drones would theoretically slow down regen of a big target enough to make it run into power issues over time if average usage per second had been matched well to power regen during the target's construction process. The swarm would slowly dry out your batteries while pestering you with missiles. Oh the fun.