The ultimate drone R&D thread

[Thalanor]

The skoomseeker is far nastier than kamikaze drones - it doesn't die by itself :D

 

[Gerion]

Any drone without AI module but with auto-firing weapon is evil as far as I am concerned.... Because according to my notes, turrets and AI ships dont shoot them. You can literally throw them close to an enemy station or parked ship and they will wear them down over time....

 

[Keptick]

Any drone without AI module but with auto-firing weapon is evil as far as I am concerned.... Because according to my notes, turrets and AI ships dont shoot them. You can literally throw them close to an enemy station or parked ship and they will wear them down over time....

That's true, sadly there's no way of guiding them to a target. That's why the AI is necessary on my drones.

 

[Gerion]

That's true, sadly there's no way of guiding them to a target. That's why the AI is necessary on my drones.

Pushing should work, but the drones might bounce off the target and be ineffective. The truest evil thing would be to direct an auto-pulser close to an enemy spawnpoint. Basically automated spawn camping.

 

[Thalanor]

With guiding I think @keptick meant adjusting rotation states to make the drones face the hostiles. The only thing the AI is good for :D

So much left to test sometime. Like rapidfire dumb missiles with a clock pulling the trigger and the bobby just doing the aiming. Give the bobby AI an 1-module dumbfire too, so it does actual target leading.

 

[Keptick]

With guiding I think @keptick meant adjusting rotation states to make the drones face the hostiles. The only thing the AI is good for :D

So much left to test sometime. Like rapidfire dumb missiles with a clock pulling the trigger and the bobby just doing the aiming. Give the bobby AI an 1-module dumbfire too, so it does actual target leading.

Yep, that's what I meant. The AI is there to steer the entire thing in the direction of the enemy.

I actually made a missile machine gun to test out a point defence turret, it fires a missile every 0.5 seconds. I could strap an AI and some thrusters to it and see how it goes :D

 

[Thalanor]

Do it for science! :D
I intend to switch from Mb drones to logic driven Mc - no PD turret array will be able to keep up with the spam!

 

[Gerion]

I am actually designing a corvette right now specifically to withstand drone attacks.... Its hard, because turrets get picked off and front guns are too clumsy. So now Im just giving it a fuck-off big nuke to destroy the drone mothership and enough shields to withstand the drones. Might try to incorporate big swarm missile arrays on different points in the hull. They might not be perfect, but it should get rid of a few drones each volley, and thats all that counts.

 

[Thalanor]

The war has begun! Drone R&D vs AntiDrone R&D. Will drones retain their stunning effectiveness? Will countermeasures successfully hold them back? The answer to that and more in the next episode of The Swarm!

Reason enough to make my droneship destroyer field some yet to be researched anti-antidrone measures.

 

[Qweesdy]

I am actually designing a corvette right now specifically to withstand drone attacks.... Its hard, because turrets get picked off and front guns are too clumsy. So now Im just giving it a fuck-off big nuke to destroy the drone mothership and enough shields to withstand the drones. Might try to incorporate big swarm missile arrays on different points in the hull. They might not be perfect, but it should get rid of a few drones each volley, and thats all that counts.

First idea: Taunt the enemy into launching their drones, and as soon as the drones are launched hit your jump drive. Come back later (when all their drones are gone) and wipe out their ship.

Second idea: If you can access the drones (e.g. they aren't behind a door) use a perma-cloaking bomber to take out the drones before they're launched. Return to mother-ship, then come back in the mother-ship and wipe out their (now drone-less) ship.

Third idea: If you can't access the drones (e.g. they are behind a door) use your ship to block the door. The drones will be stuck in a weeny little hanger where one missile will probably kill all of them at the same time. If the door closes after the drones are supposed to have left, then that's more fun - if the drones can't get out, then the enemy will have loose drones bouncing around inside their ship making it hard for them to manoeuvre.

Fourth idea: Kite. If you're doing max. speed in reverse, the drones will follow you and become easy targets for your ship's forward facing Weapon Of Doom(tm). Drones that don't follow you will be sitting ducks for long range lock-on missiles.

 

[Gerion]

First idea: Taunt the enemy into launching their drones, and as soon as the drones are launched hit your jump drive. Come back later (when all their drones are gone) and wipe out their ship.

Second idea: If you can access the drones (e.g. they aren't behind a door) use a perma-cloaking bomber to take out the drones before they're launched. Return to mother-ship, then come back in the mother-ship and wipe out their (now drone-less) ship.

Third idea: If you can't access the drones (e.g. they are behind a door) use your ship to block the door. The drones will be stuck in a weeny little hanger where one missile will probably kill all of them at the same time. If the door closes after the drones are supposed to have left, then that's more fun - if the drones can't get out, then the enemy will have loose drones bouncing around inside their ship making it hard for them to manoeuvre.

Fourth idea: Kite. If you're doing max. speed in reverse, the drones will follow you and become easy targets for your ship's forward facing Weapon Of Doom(tm). Drones that don't follow you will be sitting ducks for long range lock-on missiles.

This is all a bit cheesy (if totally viable and funny). Im trying to build a ship that can withstand direct drone swarm attacks while also being somewhat viable against bigger ships (basically a support corvette for something bigger). And there, multiple big swarm missile arrays might just be the way to go.

And who the hell doesnt put his drones behind doors? Thats just asking for a missile right into your rack....

 

[Keptick]

Anti-drone solution that might work well: Chain swarm missiles. Basically volleys of swarms that are fired off in sequence by logic. Never ending missile spam goodness!

 

[Gerion]

Anti-drone solution that might work well: Chain swarm missiles. Basically volleys of swarms that are fired off in sequence by logic. Never ending missile spam goodness!

Are we talking anti-drone or anti-server here?

 

[Keptick]

Are we talking anti-drone or anti-server here?

Missiles causing lag is a thing of the past. Of course, 1000 missiles being fired a once will cause problems, but I don't think that a chain of 20 or 40 missiles would be problematic :P

 

[Thalanor]

Well, your support corvette might fit a very interesting role. It would sure be a pain for my current project to handle, as it appears I have hit the turning speed box modifier caps, and thus need the drones against ships of that size (after all the drone hangar makes for low shields for the size class). I would add logic clocked 1-block Cm systems to my drones if they didn't use missiles themselves... :D.

 

[Keptick]

If my swarm is getting wrecked by an anti-drone ship I'd just deploy the two AI corvettes to assist >: D (freshly refit too). There's no such thing as overkill.

I cut out the door and made sure that they fit yesterday, I'll be making the hangars today or later this week.

 

[Lecic]

I am actually designing a corvette right now specifically to withstand drone attacks.... Its hard, because turrets get picked off and front guns are too clumsy. So now Im just giving it a fuck-off big nuke to destroy the drone mothership and enough shields to withstand the drones. Might try to incorporate big swarm missile arrays on different points in the hull. They might not be perfect, but it should get rid of a few drones each volley, and thats all that counts.

A powerful Damage Pulse : Beam array to wipe out all the drones around your ship would probably be a good idea.

 

[Keptick]

A powerful Damage Pulse : Beam array to wipe out all the drones around your ship would probably be a good idea.

Even with beams as a slave I'm pretty sure that the range of damage pulses is pretty pathetic and impractical. Having a ship mounted pushpulse could work, considering that the range is waaaaaay better than the damage pulse. It could stun the drones and allow the turrets to take them out.

 

[Reilly Reese]

We need a "rotation pulse"

It spins the target when it gets hit.

 

[Lecic]

We need a "rotation pulse"

It spins the target when it gets hit.

Push pulse generally does this, as it pushes the blocks it hits, making things spiral somewhat uncontrollably, especially combined with the EMP effect.