The ultimate drone R&D thread

[Thalanor]

Loadout I was referring to drone field usage experiments (e.g., rack mechanisms, undock and push/pull and the like), which may be significantly easier to accomplish with rails*. Of course drone design can always be researched at any moment I have my 7-cube drone ready to go, just waiting for the patch to see if I can make use of the rails when designing the deployment measures.

*Imagine drones docked to rails, that are accelerated by the rail and then safely undocked, preserving it's momentum to cause it to smoothly eject. That would be the dream..

Docking will also get a revamp sometime. As such, there may be a time when the whole enhancer thing and docking boxes are gone, and non-cube shaped drones can suddenly be stored with just as much efficiency and released into battle better than the state-of-the-art push beam and catapult techniques can accomplish this. Because a drone carrier would be a larger project (350m+ to start to be effective) it would be a waste to built the deployment mechanisms now when you will possibly have to redo everything later.

 

[Loadout]

Thalanor Ah, field usage.. yes that would be the dream (with rails), drones quietly drifting smoothly into space... before rapidly engaging enemies. Imagine the possibilities of rail launched skooms, mines, and other non-drones. Rail launched torpedo's anyone?

Will we be able to use rails? Definitely, there's enough brain power here to make sure it happens somehow. So I wouldn't think they'll be useless for drone launch. Between keptick, yourself, Gerion, and I one of us will come up with a way to use rails to launch drones. Even if rails have to have a counterpart or rail attachment, I've got a design in mind that'll launch drones (canister style) that way. Drones and rails will work together no question about it.

At the moment I'm trying to design a smaller drone carrier, although admittedly it is quite difficult to achieve swarm status in under 300m+ while using heavy drones. Micro or Nano drones though, it's ridiculously easy. My current project is 107m long and fields 160 micro drones. Plus it packs a punch of it's own, so it's quite capable. :D

I'd kind of like to see docking revamped, but not as much as rails or multi-lock missiles. Cause.. heatseekers are just NOT functional in most respects. <_< I'd really like to use multi-launch missiles on my drones but as is I'm extremely limited design-wise. Well, off to design some multi-rocket launcher drones while I wait for french fries to finish cooking.

All this drone thinking has made me hungry... hungry for rails!

 

[Keptick]

Thalanor Ah, field usage.. yes that would be the dream (with rails), drones quietly drifting smoothly into space... before rapidly engaging enemies. Imagine the possibilities of rail launched skooms, mines, and other non-drones. Rail launched torpedo's anyone?

Will we be able to use rails? Definitely, there's enough brain power here to make sure it happens somehow. So I wouldn't think they'll be useless for drone launch. Between keptick, yourself, Gerion, and I one of us will come up with a way to use rails to launch drones. Even if rails have to have a counterpart or rail attachment, I've got a design in mind that'll launch drones (canister style) that way. Drones and rails will work together no question about it.

At the moment I'm trying to design a smaller drone carrier, although admittedly it is quite difficult to achieve swarm status in under 300m+ while using heavy drones. Micro or Nano drones though, it's ridiculously easy. My current project is 107m long and fields 160 micro drones. Plus it packs a punch of it's own, so it's quite capable. :D

I'd kind of like to see docking revamped, but not as much as rails or multi-lock missiles. Cause.. heatseekers are just NOT functional in most respects. <_< I'd really like to use multi-launch missiles on my drones but as is I'm extremely limited design-wise. Well, off to design some multi-rocket launcher drones while I wait for french fries to finish cooking.

All this drone thinking has made me hungry... hungry for rails!

If rails can't be used for launch they'll at least make the insertion and docking of my drone racks into my ship less of a collision lagfest XD

 

[Loadout]

If rails can't be used for launch they'll at least make the insertion and docking of my drone racks into my ship less of a collision lagfest XD

The collision fest is pretty much the only reason I avoid internal racks now. Tried it a couple times, I mean really tried to make it work but... my poor laptop almost exploded trying to calculate all the collisions involved in that mess. Maybe I'll try again later, but it's doubtful I'll get something truly acceptable anytime soon. Too busy programming my own game for that :P

 

[Sgtwisky]

Huh.... I haven't had too many issues with internal racks. The racks in my carrier are all setup to be internal. The only thing is I can't undock a rack, I have to deconstruct it. OH and it can't be deconstructed until drones are launched. So far I haven't had any real lag launching my drones with my current setup. With the exception of when I first started building and placed blocks in the way of the drones.... or when I forget to open the hanger doors....

The launch method I was using was 1 beam computer with 9, 2m long lines (to make the pushing force even over the drones surface.) with a 100% push effect for each drone. they push out very nicely and don't seem to collide. Each drone also launches about .5 seconds after the one before it. if I try to launch them all at once I do get a lag storm though. Each rack holds 18 drones so even if I am launching all my racks it still only takes 9 seconds to eject everything.

EDIT: was going to get a video of the launch but screwed up....... 1. My drones are now treating open doors like hull.... and 2. when I launch drones that are not factioned, they decide that the 0 damage received from the push is an attack and start fireing on the carrier. This is a sad for my drone fleet indeed. Looks like my plan to protect them behind doors has failed.

 

[Loadout]

Huh.... I haven't had too many issues with internal racks. The racks in my carrier are all setup to be internal. The only thing is I can't undock a rack, I have to deconstruct it. OH and it can't be deconstructed until drones are launched. So far I haven't had any real lag launching my drones with my current setup. With the exception of when I first started building and placed blocks in the way of the drones.... or when I forget to open the hanger doors....

The launch method I was using was 1 beam computer with 9, 2m long lines (to make the pushing force even over the drones surface.) with a 100% push effect for each drone. they push out very nicely and don't seem to collide. Each drone also launches about .5 seconds after the one before it. if I try to launch them all at once I do get a lag storm though. Each rack holds 18 drones so even if I am launching all my racks it still only takes 9 seconds to eject everything.

EDIT: was going to get a video of the launch but screwed up....... 1. My drones are now treating open doors like hull.... and 2. when I launch drones that are not factioned, they decide that the 0 damage received from the push is an attack and start fireing on the carrier. This is a sad for my drone fleet indeed. Looks like my plan to protect them behind doors has failed.

Your edit: Basically that is what I was getting at with collisions. Whenever I do internal, the drones decide they want to ram things that they really shouldn't be able to... for example, open doors, walls that are miles away from them, other drones they shouldn't be touching, etc. etc. I find these things ruin most of my internal design ideas, so I stick with external launchers and just use some form of hull design to shield them from frontal assaults. Even though it only happens part of the time, I'd really prefer my drones to always launch successfully (not 60% of the time), so yeah... still trying though, one day... hopefully rails will make it a little easier.

On the drones attacking your primary ship part... aim to push the rack itself, because it has no AI it will never register as an attack, and thus your own drones wont go for your throat. Plus side, it generally takes fewer beam groups to do this even if they are a bit larger, and also the drones can be set to detach by themselves, saving you a bit of lag during launch time.

 

[Keptick]

Your edit: Basically that is what I was getting at with collisions. Whenever I do internal, the drones decide they want to ram things that they really shouldn't be able to... for example, open doors, walls that are miles away from them, other drones they shouldn't be touching, etc. etc. I find these things ruin most of my internal design ideas, so I stick with external launchers and just use some form of hull design to shield them from frontal assaults. Even though it only happens part of the time, I'd really prefer my drones to always launch successfully (not 60% of the time), so yeah... still trying though, one day... hopefully rails will make it a little easier.

On the drones attacking your primary ship part... aim to push the rack itself, because it has no AI it will never register as an attack, and thus your own drones wont go for your throat. Plus side, it generally takes fewer beam groups to do this even if they are a bit larger, and also the drones can be set to detach by themselves, saving you a bit of lag during launch time.

Weird, I've never had an issue with my internal drone racks. I've deployed them multiple times, even in a combat situation while moving and have 100% launch success. I also find that it works better on servers, which is a good thing. I had to do tons of tweaking while building it to get it working properly though (totally worth it, it works flawlessly now).

External racks are a lot easier to make and use (especially the reload part). Honestly, unless the ship is specialized carrier or huge enough to have space don't bother with internal racks. The mechanism for external racks is also a lot simpler, so there's less chance of failure (unless you have an over engineered system like mine).

I should make a pros/cons comparison of internal VS external racks.

 

[Sgtwisky]

I wonder if the weird collision with things that don't appear to be a problem is a single player only issue? As for my drones attacking me this is the first time they have done that. They did it when I went to war with neutral (because they were neutral) but other then that, this is the first time I have had the issue. I will continue to experiment and see if I can come up with why the drones have the odd collisions.

Update:
OK I just realized I have been using an old rack design that caused all kinds of issues. I must have deleted the good design without realizing it. luckily its an easy change. will do the modifications, testing and then if all goes well a vid to show how an internal system can work as intended.

Update 2:
OK after a quick modification everything seems to be working.

Update 3:
Arg..... I can only launch 1 rack or it lag storms my PC.... I think I will put my drone launching on hold till rails and pray it fix's all these issues.

 

[Keptick]

I uploaded the needle drone to the website: http://starmadedock.net/content/needle-drone.2277/

 

[Loadout]

I uploaded the needle drone to the website: http://starmadedock.net/content/needle-drone.2277/

Glad to see I'm not the only one using Cannon Drones ^.^ would that perhaps be a 7x7x7 drone? it seems like a smaller brother of the soul drone.

 

[Keptick]

Glad to see I'm not the only one using Cannon Drones ^.^ would that perhaps be a 7x7x7 drone? it seems like a smaller brother of the soul drone.

One could say that it is in a sense :P

 

[Loadout]

So... remember that old tube launcher idea I posted a while back? Well it works, marvelously too.

here's a shot of 6 of my new stackable and expandable design that can house anywhere from 5-50 drones depending on how massive you want the tubes to be.

The above is the tail end of my latest revision to my Savannah light carrier, it only houses 30 drones, originally it housed 50 but it was a bit too laggy for a light carrier. On top of which 30 drones was more than enough to demolish 2 pirate stations that were floating nearby as well as all the drones they(pirates) spawned in to help fight.

That said the carrier also packs a hell of a punch by itself, 3 damage beams each doing about 1k per tick. As well as 13 Extended Range Cannons that hit for 1.5k+ each. I have yet to add in punch through effects but plan on doing so.

Thanks to the new shield buff even drones have super shields now too. mmm 20k shields on my kabutos, that is down right meaty. Good luck breaking that shell! :D

 

[Keptick]

So... remember that old tube launcher idea I posted a while back? Well it works, marvelously too.

here's a shot of 6 of my new stackable and expandable design that can house anywhere from 5-50 drones depending on how massive you want the tubes to be.

The above is the tail end of my latest revision to my Savannah light carrier, it only houses 30 drones, originally it housed 50 but it was a bit too laggy for a light carrier. On top of which 30 drones was more than enough to demolish 2 pirate stations that were floating nearby as well as all the drones they(pirates) spawned in to help fight.

That said the carrier also packs a hell of a punch by itself, 3 damage beams each doing about 1k per tick. As well as 13 Extended Range Cannons that hit for 1.5k+ each. I have yet to add in punch through effects but plan on doing so.

Thanks to the new shield buff even drones have super shields now too. mmm 20k shields on my kabutos, that is down right meaty. Good luck breaking that shell! :D

20k shields? daaaayum.

And are those rack mounted or do you need to redock every single drone?

 

[EricBlank]

Just from the difference in lighting between the line of blocks the drones are docked to and the space around it, I'd say those are on racks.

In my own drone development news, I've designed and built a frigate with docking space for ~30 drones (on six 5-drone racks) Total frigate mass with turrets and drones installed is about ~7.5k. Bigger than the Procyon, but I'm still debating whether overall firepower/shield strength will be comparable. Certainly doubling as a small drone carrier counts for something? :P
Next up is setting up the logic for the launch sequence.

Spoiler: LNV Raptor in relation to SCF Procyon

 

[Keptick]

so, I did some drone VS drone testing with CyberTao . 50 oblivion drones (mine) VS 200 Mk3 drones (his). It was just epic XD

 

[Loadout]

20k shields? daaaayum.

And are those rack mounted or do you need to redock every single drone?

Yup, rack mounted.

Just from the difference in lighting between the line of blocks the drones are docked to and the space around it, I'd say those are on racks.

In my own drone development news, I've designed and built a frigate with docking space for ~30 drones (on six 5-drone racks) Total frigate mass with turrets and drones installed is about ~7.5k. Bigger than the Procyon, but I'm still debating whether overall firepower/shield strength will be comparable. Certainly doubling as a small drone carrier counts for something? :p
Next up is setting up the logic for the launch sequence.

Might be hard to tell but the racks are actually flush with the walls, there's literally no gap between the rack and the wall itself.

I always found the launch logic to be the easiest part, and seriously? I'm not the only one who built a carrier based on the SCF Procyon :p haha great minds think alike. I'll take a comparison photo to an older procyon i've got lying about. Should be a good reference point. Thalanor would be so proud.

Spoiler: Edit:

 

[Keptick]

Yup, rack mounted.



Might be hard to tell but the racks are actually flush with the walls, there's literally no gap between the rack and the wall itself.

I always found the launch logic to be the easiest part, and seriously? I'm not the only one who built a carrier based on the SCF Procyon :p haha great minds think alike. I'll take a comparison photo to an older procyon i've got lying about. Should be a good reference point. Thalanor would be so proud.

Spoiler: Edit:

How did you get them to work properly??? Tell me your secrets >_>

I actually figured out a way to make them sideways (for the Charon), but it was overly complicated and I just gave up considering rails should be coming soon. Am really interested by how you did it.

 

[Loadout]

How did you get them to work properly??? Tell me your secrets >_>

I actually figured out a way to make them sideways (for the Charon), but it was overly complicated and I just gave up considering rails should be coming soon. Am really interested by how you did it.

After a lot of trial and error I realized that if you make the rack vertical and then tilt it sideways it'll be flush... The catch though is that any and every block that is touching must be a solid cube, no wedges, no corners, no pentas, at all. For some reason those are slightly bigger than standard blocks and will muck up the whole launch. Once you're past that quirk however, it works nigh flawlessly.

Spoiler: Pics to elaborate...

Sideways facing dock...

Length the tube showing connections are all cubes...

 

[Thalanor]

Nice to see my frigate become the "for scale" of drone R&D (although the newest revision is better) :D
@kep epic, how did the battletest turn out?
I will be waiting for rails, I have my drones designed but rack and carrier technology will probably change too much.

But the new patch - dayum! Forcefields! Drones behind forcefields!

I just tested my 7x7x7 cannondrones again. The new armor update made these insignificant. However, I think maybe the time has come for single-barrel punch/pierce drones. This is because punch/pierce has a softcap now anyways, and to shoot the 6-7 softcap blocks is not difficult if only the first layer is (standard) armor, and the weapon system not linked to cannon for a change, but pulse instead.

 

[Loadout]

Nice to see my frigate become the "for scale" of drone R&D (although the newest revision is better) :D
@kep epic, how did the battletest turn out?
I will be waiting for rails, I have my drones designed but rack and carrier technology will probably change too much.

But the new patch - dayum! Forcefields! Drones behind forcefields!

I just tested my 7x7x7 cannondrones again. The new armor update made these insignificant. However, I think maybe the time has come for single-barrel punch/pierce drones. This is because punch/pierce has a softcap now anyways, and to shoot the 6-7 softcap blocks is not difficult if only the first layer is (standard) armor, and the weapon system not linked to cannon for a change, but pulse instead.

Punch through beams now work, have you considered those? I'll be testing later on tonight to see if they effectively soft cap at 35 as opposed to 7. After all they fire off 5 shots and 5 x 7 = 35. I'll edit this post later with my results.