Drone Fleet Launching.

[WeTitans3]

So, I set up my Drones to recall to my carrier with the pickup and launch point blocks, but it seems that I am unable to launch them with fleet commands.

Could anyone help me on how exactly one launches a fleet of 10 or so Drones from inside my ship?
I already spent at least 10-14 hours working on the drones and the mothership, only to realize that this did not work in the way i thought it would, and I would hopefully like to remedy this situation without having to scrap all that work and do a full redesign.

Thank you!
~Cassia

 

[Mork2]

When you path the rails the drones are attached to, to shoot out rails they will undock in that direction. Typically you setup an innership remote to change the rails so the drones travel to the shoot out rails.

 

[WeTitans3]

So, there's no way to do that from the Weapons Menu, or Fleet Commands?

 

[Mork2]

The inner remote is something that shows up on your weapons hotbar. But there is no automatic setting adding it so you have to open up the weapons menu and assign it. You can name them.

 

[WeTitans3]

Ah okay. Well, I set everything up to launch and dock it with logic and the holo-rails. But for some reason, it works once, and then doesnt respond to fleet commands to dock and I'm very frustrated cause im not sure why and ive been trying to figure this out for HOURS.

 

[Mork2]

Each ship in the fleet that is launched should have a return point ( co ordinates listed ) in the fleet window. To do this up each drone should have been docked to the carrier via pickup point. ie manually fly each one over and have them docked to the carrier via the pickup points. If you used the docker to manually dock with the rail system somewhere that won't work. You need to do this once so each drone knows which pickup point to fly to.

Also the pickup points must be on the carrier. They can't be part of something docked to the carrier.
[doublepost=1471096838,1471095722][/doublepost]I can assure you that fleet carrier return does work once setup. Fleet mine sector command doesn't work at the moment but my understanding the next update should be about fixing/expanding fleet commands.

Create pickup points on carrier main body. Have your launch logic setup through an inner ship remote to allow the drones to launch through shoot out rails. Manually pilot each drone to do a pickup up dock to the carrier. This records which pickup point for the drone to use. Before docking the drones or after, create a fleet with the carrier as the highest position and all other drones added in. Each drone in fleet should have a pickup co-ordinates listed in the fleet window. Use the inner remote to launch drones. Then you should be able to recall them.

Note the drones will generally not path around each other to get to the pickup points and are happy to try to go through your carrier to get to them. Having auto-dampening on your carrier so if it gets knocked about it will eventually slow to a stop. If it keeps rotating the drones won't be able to dock. The pickup points generally need to be pretty far from the hull of your ship and away from other pickup points to reduce collisions as the drones try to return. Also multiple drones can dock through the same pickup point. I recommend a separate pickup for each one to reduce collisions. But that really depends on the system your trying to put together. Usually one drone will arrive before the others travelling on the pickup rail is slower than the drones flying around, so you might get some congestion as multiple drones dock onto the same pickup rail.

 

[WeTitans3]

Welp, that's it. I'm done. I've wasted 20+ hours on this game, building things that ultimately don't work for reasons I dont understand, even tho everything I'm doing it to the T inline with the tutorials im watching.

 

[Mork2]

Did that with trying a mining fleet. If you want link in your blueprint for the carrier and I can have a look it and try to find the problem?

 

[WeTitans3]

If it's not one thing, it's another. I got the logic to do it the way i want it, but now the Drone wont come when called, and it seems i have to break and replace the pickup point for the docker to acknowledge it. Im just getting beyond pissed because what im doing should be working, and it's not and i dont know how to fix it.

 

[Mork2]

Well its starting to sound like an issue that can't be fixed by sending text. As I said if you attach the blueprint to the post I can have a look.

Also I just remembered that a lot of times when I place pickup points their inactive which means the drones won't dock. To activate them just link an actuator to them and then turn the actuator off then on to turn on the pickups.

 

[Lukwan]

Drones will not return to the carrier if the carrier itself is docked when the command is issued.

Edit: This demo might be useful for reference.

Self-Regulating Drone-Rail

 

[WeTitans3]

That seems like an odd thing for them to even do. Does it occur after docking the first time and then undocking? And I imagine the reason ym Drone wont come back is because it doesnt have a place to dock to?
[doublepost=1471106228,1471106185][/doublepost]OKAY! Now that is probably the issue. I docked it to keep it from flying away by being struck by the drone.

 

[Mork2]

Yeah when you dock up you will notice the return points on the fleet window disappear.

 

[WeTitans3]

Alright. Thank you then!

 

[Mork2]

Here is to hoping the fleet update there working on will allow the use of docked entities with the fleet return command. This would allow you to have a docked hanger on a carrier or allow the carrier to be docked to a station....

 

[WeTitans3]

Yes that would be great. And a little more intelligence when it comes to drones docking would be nice. They kinda nose dive full speed at the pickup point.

 

[StormWing0]

I feel your pain, I've been working on a fleet miner ship for some time and have a 60 drone finished version you can rip apart to study if you want.

 

[WeTitans3]

Eh, thanks tho. When it comes to Mining fleets, k just go with a couple decent sized ones. Most if not all of the heavy lifting can be done by a big mothership

 

[Lukwan]

Yes that would be great. And a little more intelligence when it comes to drones docking would be nice. They kinda nose dive full speed at the pickup point.

One simple order (Ore-der? :D) would really help with drone-recall:

***Recall fleet to idle formation---then recall to pick-up points. (a two-stage order...both orders already exist).***

 

[WeTitans3]

Good point. Never thought about that.