The ultimate drone R&D thread

[Thalanor]

PD turret racks are an excellent idea. However, unlike drones and point defense (which profit from small units in huge numbers), actual battleship turrets (the damage inflicting ones) are better off in small numbers and large individual units instead.

 

[Mered4]

Yea, someone was talking about using point defense turret plates since those get shot down the most in combat. I think that it was @azeriah. It's a pretty good idea imo, since replacing PD turrets is a gigantic pain.

True.

The only issue I see is efficient placement. Personally, I try to spread out my PDs in a *net* around the core, to catch as many of those pesky lockons as possible while minimizing damage between turrets. I'm not sure how possible that will be with a *rack* of sorts. The shape would be quite weird.

 

[Jay_do]

I can't believe how huge this thread is. Its like the most successful thread in Star Made history!

 

[Keptick]

*reads new dev blog*
Blablabla docking blablabla wireless logic blabla...

Wait a sec....
...
Wireless logic...
....


*silence*


...

 

[AtraUnam]

Suddenly drones detaching from racks gets SO much easier.

 

[Thalanor]

One day in the near future, people will skim this thread and scratch their head at "core-push based logic transmitter methods", "minimum docking size" and stuff. Must sound to them like ancient history. Then they will make a film about it, get all the historic details wrong, and depict keptick as an imperator madman to get it up to blockbuster standards.

 

[Keptick]

Suddenly drones detaching from racks gets SO much easier.

Indeed! Not only that, but also stuff like remote skoomdrone activation/deactivation, select-able undocking amounts and other awesome stuff like that!

And the rail system, ooooooooooh I can't wait. No more incredible lag when fitting the drone racks into the ship!

 

[Thalanor]

Depending on how it works, maybe rails also make rack magazines a feasiblity - like the option to deploy two racks a total of 4 times before having to return to base. The main gripe with drone tech right now is that when you are lured into premature drone release, you are fraked and have to return to base.

 

[Loadout]

Wireless logic... Phrak! I just finished my no-build mode drone launch mechanism :3

Oh well, I still made a stealth carrier. :p

 

[Keptick]

no-build mode drone launch mechanism

say what?

 

[Loadout]

say what?

yup, once the docking part is debugged. You can simply put the docking module on your hotbar and area triggers do the rest. =)

 

[Keptick]

yup, once the docking part is debugged. You can simply put the docking module on your hotbar and area triggers do the rest. =)

Wait, putting docking on the hotbar actually works? I've always noticed it in the weapon menu but never really tried it. That's great! Except that you have to find the right dock in the weapons's menu lol.

I actually theorized a way of using a beam to shoot the not gate off a docked entity, that way you could have the beam computer on your hot-bar. Not too sure how well that'd work though.

 

[Loadout]

Wait, putting docking on the hotbar actually works? I've always noticed it in the weapon menu but never really tried it. That's great! Except that you have to find the right dock in the weapons's menu lol.

I actually theorized a way of using a beam to shoot the not gate off a docked entity, that way you could have the beam computer on your hot-bar. Not too sure how well that'd work though.

It Used to work, but right now it's bugged. So the weapon menu can be used to undock and launch that way. Still faster than build mode searching though. :p

 

[Keptick]

It Used to work, but right now it's bugged. So the weapon menu can be used to undock and launch that way. Still faster than build mode searching though. :p

Yea, I just position my build mode right beside the control panel. So in combat just gotta press space and press the right button :P

 

[Loadout]

Yea, I just position my build mode right beside the control panel. So in combat just gotta press space and press the right button :p

That's what I used to do, now I plan on just mashing a single button and letting loose the drones of war.

 

[Keptick]

I just made a chaff launcher. It's 11x11x7, including a loaded clip. A single clip contains 80 chaff pieces, can be reloaded easily and ejects on use (It's almost like a shotgun, lol). It works 100% of the time if no bugs are involved (there's one I've been sporadically getting). It can also accept different clips with specialized chaff, such as PD chaff (that stuff is nasty). Oh, and the chaff almost forms a mushroom cloud from the point of origin, it's pretty interesting.

I'll post a .gif and pics of the system tomorrow.

 

[Keptick]

hue hue hue

Spoiler: Some explanation

What you saw right there is a Chaff launcher.

^ what it looks like when loaded. I could also make the top all black and have it blend perfectly with the hull of the ship it's on.

^ the rack

^ the result

It undocks the rack then destroys a not gate on it. The rack updates it's logic with a looping timer and triggers the push pulses and chaff undocking. Then the launcher pushes the rack out. It's kinda sketchy xD

 

[Loadout]

It undocks the rack then destroys a not gate on it. The rack updates it's logic with a looping timer and triggers the push pulses and chaff undocking. Then the launcher pushes the rack out. It's kinda sketchy xD

I LOVE it! So many targets to lock on to it's absurd! But will AI target the chaff? I'd probably swap the factions for bobby's. I never use swarm missiles anyways so I think it'd probably work out. Now to mount a few of these on ALL of my ships...

Enemy: All clear cap'n, not a ship in sight...

Me: hue hue, that's what you think :3 go fly my pretties!

*launches AI chaff*

Enemy:

 

[Keptick]

I LOVE it! So many targets to lock on to it's absurd! But will AI target the chaff? I'd probably swap the factions for bobby's. I never use swarm missiles anyways so I think it'd probably work out. Now to mount a few of these on ALL of my ships...

Enemy: All clear cap'n, not a ship in sight...

Me: hue hue, that's what you think :3 go fly my pretties!

*launches AI chaff*

Enemy:

That actually made me laugh XD

 

[Loadout]

In other news I'm beginning to try my hand at making point defense "racks". Its entirely different from drone rack design but so far my trials are going fairly well.

A pic of the first generation...

So far the test results show a complete destruction of about 90% of the incoming missiles. It needs work though, they have a tendency to shoot each other in this setup.

All things considered this is a fairly easy way to replace a large area of coverage for point defenses.