The ultimate drone R&D thread

[Tunk]

I said they were unfeasible not impossible.
Completely different meanings there

 

[Loadout]

I said they were unfeasible not impossible.
Completely different meanings there

I took the meaning as "not possible to do easily." which it actually is, most racks are easy to make though. If you're willing to invest the time. = )

 

[Spazmatism]

This thread has too many pages for me to read in one night and there's only one thing I'd like to know more about before attempting it: How practical is a Pull Beam + magnetic docking for reclaiming activated drones?

 

[Blaza612]

This thread has too many pages for me to read in one night and there's only one thing I'd like to know more about before attempting it: How practical is a Pull Beam + magnetic docking for reclaiming activated drones?

You'd either need a way for the drone to rotate to the correct position, or a docker or two on all sides of the drone. But other than that, I think it'd work pretty well.

 

[Sgtwisky]

hum....
SO, if someone were to build a cube drone with dockers on all sides, then maybe drone retrieval could become a real possibility. OR optionally design something non cubic that can still be reclaimed. Think I may have to experiment with that idea. My drones are already mostly square. The only issue I may have is that they may not be oriented properly for launching.

Thanks for the idea of pull beams and magnetic docking.

 

[nightrune]

hum....
SO, if someone were to build a cube drone with dockers on all sides, then maybe drone retrieval could become a real possibility. OR optionally design something non cubic that can still be reclaimed. Think I may have to experiment with that idea. My drones are already mostly square. The only issue I may have is that they may not be oriented properly for launching.

Thanks for the idea of pull beams and magnetic docking.

I'm still working on it, but I managed to make a scope that seems to work. I created an open hangar. My drones are three blocks thick, and 13 blocks wide. Hangar is 6 blocks high and 15 wide.

The top two layers of the hangar are forcefields. After closing the front door. I have logic to clamp the drone by adding layers of forcefields until it mag docks. I want to refine it as I get a lot of clipping problems, but it seems to capture them well. I'll just need to figure out a good way to stop them as I was informed the stop beam is too inefficient. When I finish it I promise to provide give. All I have is ugly prototypes right now.

 

[Malacodor]

Activating the drone's docking beam via remote control should make redocking easier.

Edit: If rail dockers could be activated via logic at all.

 

[Loadout]

This thread has too many pages for me to read in one night and there's only one thing I'd like to know more about before attempting it: How practical is a Pull Beam + magnetic docking for reclaiming activated drones?

if you had read all 70 pages of our collective insanity you would know that practical has nothing to do with drones.

that said pull or push are not the major issue here. the issue is collisions. in order for something to reliably dock you need two things...

1. a clear space, as in nothing on the same layer in the same space as which you are trying to dock. I call this the rule of nubs.
2. the docker OR the rail must move into each other. either one will work but its much easier to work it with just one moving. This is the Rule of Decaf.

So whatever you decide to do just make sure you follow those two rules and your decaffeinated nubs shall rule the intergalaxium without brain splurgingly violent collisions.

 

[GRHayes]

Waaait, do rail dockers send out a logic signal when they're docked onto something?
[DOUBLEPOST=1450900061,1450899758][/DOUBLEPOST]Also, someone here has peobably tested this already; Is it possible to simply use a shipyard repair mode to replenish drones?

Yes, that is how my stick ship works its in community with the 5x5x5 drones.

Yes,

Rather than worry about the lagg some mentioned. Create a small ship that's entire job is to load drones onto the primary ship.
Lets just say it has 8 drones on it. Which you then drive to the other ship hit the landing pad and use a method like I had in http://starmadedock.net/threads/simple-automated-cargo-drone-storage-point.22342/ to load the drones.
Or you could build drone racks as one person suggested and then just dock them in the ship and reload them as needed.

the stick ship if you are interested. http://starmadedock.net/content/stick-ship-drones.3912/
You might want to check the logic out in those drones it may give you some ideas.
[DOUBLEPOST=1451174232][/DOUBLEPOST]

Activating the drone's docking beam via remote control should make redocking easier.

Edit: If rail dockers could be activated via logic at all.

Have you checked these out?
http://starmadedock.net/threads/simple-automated-cargo-drone-storage-point.22342/
http://starmadedock.net/posts/254436/

 

[Gerion]

This is still going on? I really like that.

Now I have to figure out how every new thing works to get back into the conversation. Damn.

 

[StormWing0]

lol 70 pages of things you don't want to see a large swarm of nearby. :P

 

[alterintel]

New Drone for Carrier Ops on it's way to a theater near you. Should be finished soon

 

[Malacodor]

New Drone for Carrier Ops on it's way to a theater near you. Should be finished soon

Great, now make a drone that transforms into schema.

 

[Keptick]

Yes, that is how my stick ship works its in community with the 5x5x5 drones.

Yes,

Rather than worry about the lagg some mentioned. Create a small ship that's entire job is to load drones onto the primary ship.
Lets just say it has 8 drones on it. Which you then drive to the other ship hit the landing pad and use a method like I had in http://starmadedock.net/threads/simple-automated-cargo-drone-storage-point.22342/ to load the drones.
Or you could build drone racks as one person suggested and then just dock them in the ship and reload them as needed.

the stick ship if you are interested. http://starmadedock.net/content/stick-ship-drones.3912/
You might want to check the logic out in those drones it may give you some ideas.
[DOUBLEPOST=1451174232][/DOUBLEPOST]
Have you checked these out?
http://starmadedock.net/threads/simple-automated-cargo-drone-storage-point.22342/
http://starmadedock.net/posts/254436/

I invented the rack reloading method, so I know about it :p. Thanks for the other info!

A shame that ships can't be undocked from shipyards with logic, I could automate rack production and loading onto ships
[DOUBLEPOST=1452659545,1452659396][/DOUBLEPOST]

New Drone for Carrier Ops on it's way to a theater near you. Should be finished soon

Mother of god...

 

[Zekester81]

Just going to throw this up here. Was my first attempt at drones and racks.

Edit: Ha, not letting my gif show! Here is a link instead.
Lmao, that made my gif show!

 

[Malacodor]

Just going to throw this up here. Was my first attempt at drones and racks.

Edit: Ha, not letting my gif show! Here is a link instead.
Lmao, that made my gif show!

Your ship can p**p drones!

 

[Top 4ce]

Your ship can p**p drones!

I didn't want to be the one to say it. It's amazing, you kill with your poo!

 

[Zekester81]

Your ship can p**p drones!

148 of them in fact. 180 if they were all laser drones. If you can't beat your enemy, you can always undock all and lag the game out. That image has ate up my imagur bandwidth.

It is really finicky and I can't seem to work some of the bugs out. It causes collision when ejecting the rack sometimes. Sometimes the racks don't disperse properly. IDK why it does that, it's just hit and miss cause it was all hooked up right. Might be the amount of docked entities.

Here it is if you want to check it out, just be warned it can sometimes cause issues and I wouldn't put it on a server. You might upset someone... https://starmadedock.net/content/tormentor-class-drone-carrier.3994/

 

[Malacodor]

148 of them in fact. 180 if they were all laser drones. If you can't beat your enemy, you can always undock all and lag the game out. That image has ate up my imagur bandwidth.

It is really finicky and I can't seem to work some of the bugs out. It causes collision when ejecting the rack sometimes. Sometimes the racks don't disperse properly. IDK why it does that, it's just hit and miss cause it was all hooked up right. Might be the amount of docked entities.

Here it is if you want to check it out, just be warned it can sometimes cause issues and I wouldn't put it on a server. You might upset someone... https://starmadedock.net/content/tormentor-class-drone-carrier.3994/

I'm just a silly remark expert, not a drone expert, so all I can recommend you is a laxative.

 

[Sgtwisky]

SO, I have been fiddling with the idea of a rack, that can reclaim drones. My one issue is that magnetic docking seems to be a tad bit derpy right now. Even when I hit the docker with the rail0I want it to dock too, it sometimes wont dock. Any ideas on how I might combat this issue?

My current setup for my testing rack is basically just a stick of rails, mass enhancers, power and some thrusters. The rail docker on my drones is flush with the bottom of the drone, and my core is 1 block back and to the left of the rail I am using to hit the docker on the drone.