A few things I have been thinking about with regards to drones.
1. Using a rack to deploy drones into the pickup area on a carrier, thus automagicly assigning them to the carrier without me having to fly each manually onto the ship.
2. Combo Launch Method: I can ether launch drones via the shootout rail, OR just use push beams. Depends heavily on carrier setup. My thought about shootout rails, is that each rail sends the drone out 1 at a time. While using older methods like push beams, I can fling 50 or more out at once. Drones are week in low numbers, so having lots from the start might be an advantage.
3. Been brainstorming how my logic for docking may end up looking like. I'm thinking about modifing my current rack that uses magnetic docking to pickup drones. But it will require HEAVY testing to see if the logic can keep up with drones that are trying to dock one after another.
3a. If all docks are full, but for some reason more ships are trying to dock (like I released drones then reloaded without thinking bout it) I have an idea for a method to "Turn drones away". Somewhat like a U-turn using the shootout rail.
That has been my brainstorming while I was at work the last few days. Gonna try and get a prototype of my launch/retrieval system going in the next day or two. Will report back with any findings.