Are drones usefull in combat

[marcus87]

I would like to know if someone has any experience with AI drones. I thought about adding them to my new ship. But are they woth the cost?

Basically they have to be more usefull than their volume, that could be used for other systems on the mothership. Now I can see that being the case for bigger ships, which do not get as many shields per block than smaller vessels.

And they have to be a real threat to the enemy, have to be able to harm a gigger ship. Also turrets should not be able to oneshot them. Does jamming held there?

And how big do you guys build them? One standart docking port or more?

 

[ourson15]

I would like to know if someone has any experience with AI drones. I thought about adding them to my new ship. But are they woth the cost?

Basically they have to be more usefull than their volume, that could be used for other systems on the mothership. Now I can see that being the case for bigger ships, which do not get as many shields per block than smaller vessels.

And they have to be a real threat to the enemy, have to be able to harm a gigger ship. Also turrets should not be able to oneshot them. Does jamming held there?

And how big do you guys build them? One standart docking port or more?

AI ignores Jamming & Cloaking Systems as far as I know

 

[marcus87]

Well then any ship with any significant amount of turrets will rip drones apart -.-

 

[ourson15]

Yep, replace drones with torpedoes that you use the shield beam on, and pulse them into the enemy... beating the shit outta them

 

[FunnyBunny14]

As far as I could tell it is more effective to build hundreds of tiny drones with some weapons. The sheer number of drones will overwhelm any enemy and turret. The turrets simply don't know what they have to fire at anymore. Plus, if they are cannon turrets, odds are that they will miss a lot since the drones will be so small.

I haven't tried this out myself, but others have said that this actually is really effective in combat. So I'll just have to take their word for it and suggest that you try the same.

 

[marcus87]

so lots of small ones ... mhm ... will give it a try. Thanks :D

 

[Lecic]

You can use logic to keep a jamming or cloaking system online without a pilot by triggering the computer.

The trick is to have a lot of the things. I'd recommend at 5 to 10 or more per enemy turret. Expect heavy losses if they have heat seekers, but they can provide a ton of help.

 

[Reilly Reese]

Personally despite the fact that soon you will be able to shoot down rockets the best way to keep them from hitting you is to have a drone screen. Works on all missiles but especially effective against heatseekeres. Also overwhelming numbers means that they will melt through shields. Especially with Ion and EMP effectss. I would definitely consider them mainstay tactics as long as you can fit enough in your ship.

 

[marcus87]

Thanks for the suggestions, I myself tested drones on my Hugin. And it took the turrets quite some time to take the drones down. But they only really managed to damage the turrets.

 

[jzimmerman4]

If you are worried about drones taking up space in your ship then build external docks for them instead. And yes I love drones, great way to keep enemy turret fire off of your main ship.

 

[Keptick]

I made a very comprehensive answer to your questions, it was big enough to deserve it's own thread :P
http://starmadedock.net/threads/to-drone-or-not-to-drone-an-answer.3246/