The ultimate drone R&D thread

[Nickizzy]

Like that?

All the drones came in through 1 rail and exited in groups of five. I had to change the system because it took way too long for all the drones to get back on the ship. It would work with a smaller amount of drones, though.

Omg the Homeworld hype! Gime gime gime. That looks awsome. Is that on a larger ship? And do tbey come out in a bluewash of ice crystals?!:D

 

[Malacodor]

Is that on a larger ship?

No, it's on a largest ship.

 

[Loadout]

Another week goes by and another idea for drone CnC comes about. I present you all with the

Turret Hangar

Have you ever wanted your drones to launch @ your enemies. Well here comes the slow but methodical solution you've been waiting for! The turret hangar is essentially just that, a turret AND a hangar at the same time. Thanks to the wonders of chain docking this hangar will still retrieve drones as usual on your carrier, station, battleship or titan.

I plan to use these on my own large scale ships whenever I get around to them. Mainly as a supplement on carriers but as an actual means of carrying drones on a combat vessel like a BB. This will allow us drone-gineers to include drones on all our ships without having to have dedicated internal space for it. A marvelous solution to saving internal space for things drastically needed, like shields or more power gen. As well as refitting older ships to include newer drones without having to refit EVERYTHING. :D

 

[TwoNiner]

This is an extremely old thread

 

[jzimmerman4]

Please dont let it ever die though! Hahah

 

[Sgtwisky]

Old? Yes. Dead? NEVER !

There IS a lot of info that is still relevant here too. You just have to sift through a lot to find it. I am sure when fleet's are updated a bit more, and many of us finish refitting our ships, you will see more posts.

 

[TwoNiner]

I lost interest when skoom drones got fucked

 

[BrotherLazarus]

I completely forgot this thread existed until I got an email notification a few minutes ago.

Reminds me that it's been a few updates since I've logged in. I should check out the new additions...

 

[StarWars1981]

Looks like the minor Necro is strong here.
But that's all right. Anybody with the will to read through 77 pages deserves all the knowledge they receive.
It's a good thread, and I hope it continues. Keep using it, people, it's been amazingly helpful so far.
Bump.

 

[Malacodor]

Looks like the minor Necro is strong here.
But that's all right. Anybody with the will to read through 77 pages deserves all the knowledge they receive.
It's a good thread, and I hope it continues. Keep using it, people, it's been amazingly helpful so far.
Bump.

But how many of these 77 pages are still valid?

 

[Sgtwisky]

Any part to do with launching, or loading with racks. In fact, its WAY easier to spawn in a loading rack when you have lost drones then to spawn drones separately. Another thing to keep in mind is that the new shootout rails don't fire drones out as fast as using push beams do. Which is a type of tech developed here.

There is plenty of valid info, its just buried in here and mixed in with old info. That of course means the info that is valid is not very accessible.

 

[StarWars1981]

Still, it's a central location for drone tech and drone fun. So we can ALL enjoy it.
Besides, it's nostalgically important along with its usefulness.

 

[Keptick]

Any part to do with launching, or loading with racks. In fact, its WAY easier to spawn in a loading rack when you have lost drones then to spawn drones separately. Another thing to keep in mind is that the new shootout rails don't fire drones out as fast as using push beams do. Which is a type of tech developed here.

There is plenty of valid info, its just buried in here and mixed in with old info. That of course means the info that is valid is not very accessible.

You could totally use push beams AND shootout rails if you want :P

 

[Sgtwisky]

You could totally use push beams AND shootout rails if you want :p

That is EXACTLY what I'm designing my carrier that will debut in the drone wars season 2.

 

[Lukwan]

Have not read all 77 pages yet. I hope this is relevant.

My pick-up points are far enough from the ship that collisions are rare. Recall works best if ordered into idle formation first. (Would be a useful new fleet-order)

Actual fleet formation:



While docked the drones make contact with wedges-blocks.

Very proud of my entities sharing block-space. (awwwwww they are holding hands)

Drones have a small Quad PD turret useful for area denial around the carrier. Drones will launch by logic if the dead man's switch (nose activation block) gets destroyed.

Check out this and my drone demo on the dock. Lukwan's_Fleet_Submission_1
Self-Regulating Drone-Rail

 

[Sgtwisky]

What I think is kinda cool about that design is that when the drones are docked, it all looks like one ship.

I have actually not spent time messing with pickup points and rails yet. I really should get around to it.

 

[Loadout]

Have you ever wanted to release your angry hornets nest of drones on an unsuspecting foe while you were at work? Maybe perhaps whilst grabbing a snack? Or even while visiting the little squids room? Have you ever wondered would it be possible to just leave a few behind to protect a sector or 2? The answer to your questions and pondering bits is here.

The Mangler Mine

The Mangler class D mine, is a drone rack hybrid deployment system. This mechanism combines both the enemy detector as well as basic rail shootout functionality to provide you with an easy to use fire and forget mine. Said mine will then detect and launch its payload of drones whenever an enemy approaches.

 

[TheGeek007]

Have you ever wanted to release your angry hornets nest of drones on an unsuspecting foe while you were at work? Maybe perhaps whilst grabbing a snack? Or even while visiting the little squids room? Have you ever wondered would it be possible to just leave a few behind to protect a sector or 2? The answer to your questions and pondering bits is here.

Those sound amazing! I've been trying to figure out how to do this myself!

How ever did you figure out an enemy detection mechanism?

Will you put this up on the Dock? I'd love to see it in action!

 

[StormWing0]

Those sound amazing! I've been trying to figure out how to do this myself!

How ever did you figure out an enemy detection mechanism?

Will you put this up on the Dock? I'd love to see it in action!

Search Enemy Detector on the Community Content section, there's a ton of them there.

 

[Loadout]

Those sound amazing! I've been trying to figure out how to do this myself!

How ever did you figure out an enemy detection mechanism?

Will you put this up on the Dock? I'd love to see it in action!

My detection mechanism is vastly different from other folks. Most of them on the dock use some kind of strange collision detection that occasionally(?) results in positives. My detector uses a turret that simply turns to face the nearest enemy. Once it turns it releases a docked ship that slides forward and turns on a switch. I may make a clean version of this available on the dock as well.

This will be available but not right away. I have to do some photo editing to make the actual post itself. That'll hopefully be done by Wednesday of next week. As well as my Glade drone missile cruiser, which also uses this detector. Those should both be up by end of Wednesday. I would do it sooner but 13 hour workdays kinda limit my time on Starmade or anything else for that matter.