The ultimate drone R&D thread

[ASM]

Ok guys, im naming the system DCS (Drone Catapult System) unless anyone has a better name :P

 

[Loadout]

Aaaaaaand shit.... The reason that beams will pass through docked entities is because they are perfectly level to the separation between blocks, meaning that they don't hit anything until it undocks, at which point it's not perfectly centered anymore and the entity can be pushed. The problem with that is that since my drones are on a rack they aren't at that perfect height anymore... I didn't expect that

One thing I could do is to dock the racks to an other docked entity so that the beams are once again aligned with the splits, but that would mean that the drones won't match the exit port anymore. An other thing I could do is the mount the beams themselves on a dock so that they become level with the drones, but that also causes complications and problems....

No worries though, I have some ideas in case simply shoving 5 drones out at the same time doesn't work due to sticky collisions :p

Or you could do a quick redesign and have the rack be made vertically. Then everything is in alignment but simply a 1/2 block further out the door. Had to do that with several tube designs, in the end was worth the effort though as it allowed a much smoother "gliding"-motion out the door.

ex:

as is...
-----dock-----dock-----dock----core----dock---dock---dock

proposed...
--
--
dock
--
--
dock
--
core
--
etc.

Then you attach it to the ship so that it faces outward on it's side and voila, perfectly aligned with beams, and launches just fine.

a picture might help... perhaps I can find a good close up of what i'm referring too...

Ok guys, im naming the system DCS (Drone Catapult System) unless anyone has a better name :p

what about the Drone flippy thing? or rotating whirly-gig of dron-i-ness? Nah... DCS is simpler... though everytime I say it aloud I keep hearing DC-F (department of children and families) which is strange. Do drones come in families? Nay I say! Nay! Err...maybe?

 

[ASM]

... Can... someone tell us if drones come in families!?

 

[Keptick]

Loadout I just docked the push beams to the ship to get them level.

 

[Gerion]

... Can... someone tell us if drones come in families!?

No, they come in racks. They dont have families, they only know barely contained rage, hate and disgust. Also patience, but that they dont control.

Also, fuck fleet action, apparently. Swarm missiles on every ship, turret, station, planet, platform, animal, star, tree and asteroid I can find. Because 220 drones keptick ? Thats just cruel.

Actually, missile system that have to be fired manually on stations would actually be a neat addition to the game. A reward for being at the base during an attack.

 

[Keptick]

No, they come in racks. They dont have families, they only know barely contained rage, hate and disgust. Also patience, but that they dont control.

Also, fuck fleet action, apparently. Swarm missiles on every ship, turret, station, planet, platform, animal, star, tree and asteroid I can find. Because 220 drones keptick ? Thats just cruel.

Actually, missile system that have to be fired manually on stations would actually be a neat addition to the game. A reward for being at the base during an attack.

lmfao XD

You could always use MOAR drones against me

 

[Colt556]

I feel like I need to make a version of my ship with the interior stripped out and just full of drones and systems.

 

[TheFloorMatt]

So I stumbled across an interesting idea. Drone racks are technically modular right? They still have a ship dock they need to dock to. Can't you put other things on that dock if you don't need/want drones? (inb4 "lol as if there are alternatives to drones")

This is a turret. GUI is kept on, so I can point out the 3 parts involved. The bottom signature would be your main ship and the ship dock your drone rack is on. The middle one, your drone rack. In this case, it's just a fancy turret dock for the third signature; a turret! So there you have it, you can effectively interchange drone racks with turrets! This idea wouldn't work so great with larger, longer drone racks though...

 

[Loadout]

lmfao XD

You could always use MOAR drones against me

Funny you mentioned this, as I had already laid out a framework for a 360 drone carrier yesterday before looking here....

Decided not to go with that many drones though... kinda feels like I'd be going into the gigantism range. Which I'm specifically trying to avoid. :p

So I stumbled across an interesting idea. Drone racks are technically modular right? They still have a ship dock they need to dock to. Can't you put other things on that dock if you don't need/want drones? (inb4 "lol as if there are alternatives to drones")

...img...

This is a turret. GUI is kept on, so I can point out the 3 parts involved. The bottom signature would be your main ship and the ship dock your drone rack is on. The middle one, your drone rack. In this case, it's just a fancy turret dock for the third signature; a turret! So there you have it, you can effectively interchange drone racks with turrets! This idea wouldn't work so great with larger, longer drone racks though...

It's not impossible to do this, but like you mentioned larger racks would require about 1 turret per drone or per 2 drones. Given the average racks around here seem to carry about 20 or so... you're looking at alot of turrets.

Not that you couldn't do it, it's totally doable but then again the whole built inside the ship thing...

On the other hand I've already been experimenting with turret mounts for hard-points. They can replace a full launcher instead of just a rack. The reason I didn't just replace the rack is in-case you wanted to swap a rack for a turret, you would not have to rewire the logic circuits so you didn't launch your turrets as well as drones.

 

[Top 4ce]

So I stumbled across an interesting idea. Drone racks are technically modular right? They still have a ship dock they need to dock to. Can't you put other things on that dock if you don't need/want drones? (inb4 "lol as if there are alternatives to drones")

This is a turret. GUI is kept on, so I can point out the 3 parts involved. The bottom signature would be your main ship and the ship dock your drone rack is on. The middle one, your drone rack. In this case, it's just a fancy turret dock for the third signature; a turret! So there you have it, you can effectively interchange drone racks with turrets! This idea wouldn't work so great with larger, longer drone racks though...

My system is doing exactly that. I have module points on my ship/station that can have different roles. Drone rack, Capital Turret, PDT turret array, Corvette hanger, Missile launcher, and so on. So, for example, after using your drones and head back to base you can change the role of the ship to a long range attack vehicle. These modules might not offer the raw capabilities of a dedicated combat ship, but are more flexible and save on resources.

 

[Thalanor]

This works very well with fixed-docking modules, yes. If the space is large enough, you could for instance have several drone rack options, a fixed-docking AI vertical missile launcher, a power generator with supply beam or a player-accesible runabout launch bay.

 

[ltmauve]

Can you activate the AIs from inside the ship using the structure menu, or does that not propagate through chain docking?

 

[Thalanor]

Bad news: AI activation via structure tab does not propagate beyond the direct successors.
Good news: AI settings finally save with blueprints now; I am not sure but this applies to the "active" flag, too. As such you can have the rack blueprint have active drones per default when you buy it, and similar.

 

[ASM]

So... I was thinking of a Concept i call "Assault Containers" Basically a container of fighter sized drones or any you want. That has enough system to fight by it self with drones as support, and be carried by a Carrier. The idea of the launch system is the same as DCS (Drone Catapult System) but the delay is a lot longer.

My idea if have the drones "inside" the container with a big hanger type door on the bottom side. Once the delay end. Door open and it fire the Push beam to get the drones out... again, it is the same as my 2 stage DCS concept. (I still don't know if this has been suggested but if it has, please let me know)

 

[Thalanor]

ASM with assault containers, do you mean like "throwaway carrier modules"? e.g., a ship consisting almost entirely of docked assault containers, which contain drones. The ship would undock the container and immediately jump away. Then each assault container would just undock everything without any beams needed (if the drones are for example arranged in a circular pattern around a rod structure), and the enemy could have fun with it.

I have something in mind that I wish was more useful, because it is fun. Push-pulse AI-less drone torpedoes for planetary assault :D
The idea is to undock the torpedoes from your ship, they would then use the onboard push-clock to approach the planetary surface, and once they hit the ground they would spill a crapload of drones onto the surface. While home planets are protected, players walking around the surface would be attacked by the drones lying around everywhere.

 

[Loadout]

ASM with assault containers, do you mean like "throwaway carrier modules"? e.g., a ship consisting almost entirely of docked assault containers, which contain drones. The ship would undock the container and immediately jump away. Then each assault container would just undock everything without any beams needed (if the drones are for example arranged in a circular pattern around a rod structure), and the enemy could have fun with it.

I have something in mind that I wish was more useful, because it is fun. Push-pulse AI-less drone torpedoes for planetary assault :D
The idea is to undock the torpedoes from your ship, they would then use the onboard push-clock to approach the planetary surface, and once they hit the ground they would spill a crapload of drones onto the surface. While home planets are protected, players walking around the surface would be attacked by the drones lying around everywhere.

Sounds eerily similar to my drone canister idea from way back when. A rod shaped structure which simply deploys drones without any beams/push required. Pretty much sums up the concept, works great too! Regardless of rack size all you need is to move the rack away from the ship, then tell the rack to launch. =)

This can be done in numerous ways, either by using a delayed logic circuit or going the cheap route and using a camera facing the rack's logic activation block and your own carrier's docking beam. Both of those work wonders and are easy to implement.

On that second note.... i wish we had wheels, cause that would be seriously awesome! xD Here I thought Skoom-pedoes (skoom drones carrying actual drones) was a fun notion. Similar idea, once the skoom-pedo rams into a vessel it releases drones that then attack the enemy at point blank range. You'd have to skimp on missiles for this idea and perhaps use just nano-drones but it seems like it'd be fun to watch. :D

 

[ASM]

Thalanor No, the Container it self can fight hence the name "Assault Container" pretty much a Ship with drones inside it

 

[Gerion]

release chaff before releasing the container, else they will shoot it to pieces.

 

[Thalanor]

Ye the thing about starmade is that hybrid things don't work all that well. Have a dedicated rack/container/pod/bomb with drones which only has the function of holding these, and put it either on a dedicated carrier or as support on a larger ship (drones are an acceptable replacement for a part of a capital ship's weapons, since they pull equal if not more weight per mass). Drone racks however should focus on the drones, not the rack.

 

[ASM]

Make sense. Well, there goes one idea into the recycle bin.