The ultimate drone R&D thread

[Keptick]

Ok, the ship/rack signal transfer system is now working with a 100% success rate (which is a good thing). The drones are still getting stuck, though. It's very hard to tell what's going on because of the collision induced fps lag. I really don't understand why the drones are getting stuck:

It may have something to do with the plex doors.

 

[Keptick]

The logic/plex doors just glitch past a certain visual range, so they don't open and the drones get stuck....
F*ck it, I'm making it a big door. Having something that works is better than some useless fancy visuals. I'll leave the logic in place for when the game is less derpy.

Edit: Even a single door is glitching out and staying closed past about 150m visual range.... I don't think that this would be a problem on a server, though.

 

[Reilly Reese]

Cant you just link them through the wall with plexdoors?

Starfleet does that extensively

 

[Keptick]

Cant you just link them through the wall with plexdoors?

Starfleet does that extensively

I did, while it minimizes the problem it's still extremely apparent. Basically, if I don't move my viewpoint only half of the door will open....

Edit: I can just manually open the doors in build mode before the bug is fixed I guess (I reported it). I'll test it but I'm sure that the entire system works flawlessly without the door issue (which is a bug with the game, not my system)

 

[Keptick]

SCENED #1 , TAKE #19283712983712983712938172

And now, sleep time. *brain shutting down, initiating dream sequence*

 

[Thalanor]

Oh god, at least 24 more hours until I can starmade again (mobile). That animation makes my shipwright fingers twitch. Need to progress... :D drone ejection just looks far cooler from a finished hull

 

[Gerion]

I think you need more space between the drones, they look like they are bumbing into each other and getting stuck...

 

[Keptick]

I think you need more space between the drones, they look like they are bumbing into each other and getting stuck...

That would be waaaaaaaaay too much work :P . It already works fine, the only problem is the bugged plex doors not all opening with logic (I opened them manually).

 

[Gerion]

That would be waaaaaaaaay too much work :p . It already works fine, the only problem is the bugged plex doors not all opening with logic (I opened them manually).

Drone Warfare has made all of you goddamn lazy....

Also, for the people who dont armour their drones: That is asking for them to be destroyed or at least crippled by glancing hits. Put at least 6 blocks in front of the core to stop piercing weapons from getting them. Punch-through remains the superior option.

/edit: Every direction would have been dumb for drones, fixed.

 

[Keptick]

Drone Warfare has made all of you goddamn lazy....

Not really, I just don't feel like redoing 10-15 hours of work when it already works well.... :P

 

[Thalanor]

a 13x13x13 cube as a drone does defeat the swarming purpose though. I still have the armored version of my drones, but Ill rather build on confusing the opposing AI units with numbers than piercing protection The bobby AI cant handle being outnumbered; a good job for drones. For getting serious firepower and armor out there I might prefer heavy fighters in a hangar :D

 

[Gerion]

Its just the front armour. Your drones always face the enemy, so you can kind of skimp on rear/side armour. And yes, the AI has a problem with numbers, but that might change.

I am also going to actually test a shotgun setup against a drone swarm, maybe there is a surprise to be had (I am not expecting one).

 

[Reilly Reese]

NFD built a "FDS" (Fighter Denial System)

Ultimate swarm missile in an extremely compact package. Could be the perfect weapon for this if and I say IF it actually deals any damage

 

[Gerion]

NFD built a "FDS" (Fighter Denial System)

Ultimate swarm missile in an extremely compact package. Could be the perfect weapon for this if and I say IF it actually deals any damage

I think I covered it before, the Swarm missiles are theoretically the best weapon against drones, but they have the flaw that every missile targets for itself, so they might all crash into one drone, they might crash into them at an unfortunate angle (not killing it outright) and they have kind of a high reload time.

Edit: Took 2 of my anti-fighter turrets, replaced the slave cannon with missiles and pitted them against a few Isanths. Turrets heavily damaged, the Isanths shot to all hell, but defeated.

The spread pattern makes it difficult to hit the core, even with punch-through and the fire rate is too low. Also (if you care about it, and with a shipyard system, we might) you will not have a lot of salvage from such a battle, most Isanths had whole rows of valuable blocks missing.

Stick with cannon/cannon/punch-through, it might be your best bet. If someone would remake cannon/missiles to be a multi-shot flak cannon, that would be better than shotguns, by far.

 

[Lecic]

Replacing hull on the rack with something insanely cheap like rocks could cut down the price of the drone rack even more.

 

[NeonSturm]

Replacing hull on the rack with something insanely cheap like rocks could cut down the price of the drone rack even more.

While true, imagine defensive drone spam.

Now the drones with higher (performance (=more hp per mass unit)) win.

It would be a nice option when blocks have different weight to use lightweight materials, but I don't know if it is time to replace ALL drones with cheaper versions.

 

[Gerion]

While true, imagine defensive drone spam.

Now the drones with higher (performance (=more hp per mass unit)) win.

It would be a nice option when blocks have different weight to use lightweight materials, but I don't know if it is time to replace ALL drones with cheaper versions.

I think he just meant the rack itself, since its in the ship anyway, nobody sees it and you pay for hull you dont actually want. I have actually found a reason to eject the rack along after you started the drones: It draws some fire from the enemy defense, and with the hp system, it might be quite spoongy, especially against defense drones and swarm missiles (since they might just lock on to the rack instead of your drones)

 

[Thalanor]

I dunno, I personally don't save hull wherever I can. My drone rack now looks good standalone - worth the 50k of hull IMO. Same reasoning with my ships: they have more interior than absolutely necessary

Since I swap drone racks back in the base, I can just throw them into a 'garbage compressor' autosalvager to end up lossless.

Once the HP system launches... I will be one hoopy frood :D

Pretty sure my destroyer will end up with X million cost overhead due to interior hull pieces or armor yourarely ever see, too

 

[Malacodor]

We now have a third hull type with 0% Armor and 50 HP (aka cardboard), which is probably meant mostly for decoration. Let's hope its mass will reflect its durability.

 

[Keptick]

Replacing hull on the rack with something insanely cheap like rocks could cut down the price of the drone rack even more.

To be honest, the price of all the hull is extremely minimal since I intentionally left holes in it. But you're right, using the new "hull" blocks (which is a cheap version of hull) could cut price down even more! Here's what my current (working) rack design looks like:

Most of the stuff on the top is thrusters, it makes it 1000x times easier to handle the entire thing.