Drones!!

Lemmy · #1 September 18th, 2001, 10:19 PM

Forgot to post this, here are the fields that SE4 wants from you if you create a Vehicle Size with Vehicle Type := Drone

Launched from Ship := True/False
Launched from Planet := True/False
Random Explorer := True/False
Seeks towards Target := True/False
Seeks towards Sector := True/False
Hits Target := True/False
Launch/Loads Troops := True/False
Launch/Loads Mines := True/False
Launch/Loads Sats := True/False
Refuels Target := True/False
Requires Launcher := True/False

now we all know what we're missing, and what they were originally meant for.

Baron Munchausen · #2 September 18th, 2001, 10:19 PM

Actually, ships need bridge, life support, and crew quarters because they have been given that requirement in the VehicleSize.txt file.

Requirement Must Have Bridge := True
Requirement Can Have Aux Con := True
Requirement Min Life Support := 1
Requirement Min Crew Quarters := 1
Requirement Uses Engines := True

Just change the Life Support/Crew Quarters requirement on your 'drones' to '0' and see if that doesn't remove the problem. Then you can just make a "drone computer core" like the one for satellites to handle the bridge requirements.

Other than that, the 'fire and forget' quality of drones is hard to recreate this way. They are meant to be given a mission and then be completely autonomous. So, you should NOT be able to change their orders after giving them a mission.

I like the missions described in the old vehiclesize file for drones. They could carry cargo, like mines, sats, WPs, or troops, and drop the cargo at a remote location then 'disappear' ('self-destruct' I guess). So, you could lay minefields or sat Groups without needing ships, and you could build up planet defenses, or possibly invade planets, without ships. You could also fill a drone with supplies and 'fire' it at one of your own ships. When the drone arrived it would transfer its supplies to the ship and then 'vanish' as usual. Remote resupply without risking unarmed 'tanker' ships in dangerous areas! Coolness! The only other uses I can think of for drones are as "cruise missile" type weapons as has been discussed. Put a plain old warhead on them, or maybe a special weapon like a plague bomb or a smart bomb, and fire at planets deep within enemy territory. If they don't get through, it's not the same loss as a ship with crew. If they do, it's a very cheap and effective way to damage the enemy.

Oops, just thought of another use. A "wild weasel" drone that has some sort of electronic device in it which makes it look like a SHIP to your enemy. Now that would be cool. You could make a flight of drones look like a fleet of battleships and it would take a direct engagement to tell the difference. You could play all sorts of defensive or offensive shell games with that.

[This message has been edited by Baron Munchausen (edited 18 September 2001).]

Kadste · #3 September 19th, 2001, 02:51 AM

I have tried to set Requirement Min Life Support and Requirement Min Crew Quarters to zero. But, this resulted in a max movement of two. The only way that I could get around it was to give my "drone" the Ship Life Support and Ship Crew Quarters Abilities. I also gave my drone the Ship Bridge, Extra Movement Generation and Combat Movement Abilities to solve my problem with drone movement. On my drones you can only choose one component, the warhead. This also solved a problem with placing unwanted components on drones.

------------------
Never Give up, Never Surrender!

Tenryu · #4 September 19th, 2001, 03:16 AM

Sure would be interesting to see these in.

Phoenix-D · #5 September 19th, 2001, 03:42 AM

Kadste, instead of setting the requirement to 0, try changing the "Requires Life Support" to false.

Phoenix-D

Lemmy · #6 September 20th, 2001, 01:05 AM

quote:
Originally posted by Phoenix-D:
Kadste, instead of setting the requirement to 0, try changing the "Requires Life Support" to false.

Phoenix-D

won't work, i tried that, but i think it is hardcoded that any ship size needs Bridge, Life Support and Crew Quarters to get max. movement.

quote:
Originally posted by Kadste:
I have tried to set Requirement Min Life Support and Requirement Min Crew Quarters to zero. But, this resulted in a max movement of two. The only way that I could get around it was to give my "drone" the Ship Life Support and Ship Crew Quarters Abilities. I also gave my drone the Ship Bridge, Extra Movement Generation and Combat Movement Abilities to solve my problem with drone movement. On my drones you can only choose one component, the warhead. This also solved a problem with placing unwanted components on drones.

i just gave my drone the Master Computer ability.
And how did you manage to only put warheads on drones ?

Lemmy · #7 September 20th, 2001, 01:11 AM

quote:
Just change the Life Support/Crew Quarters requirement on your 'drones' to '0' and see if that doesn't remove the problem. Then you can just make a "drone computer core" like the one for satellites to handle the bridge requirements.

but if a drone is a ship size, then a "normal ship" can also use this component, maybe Kadste has found a way around this.