Drones

[Hotfoot]

Originally posted by Unknown_Enemy:
The only use I have been able to figure for drones are light drones mounting EMC and allegiance subverters.

Other than that

Whoa....that's Evil...

Drones are like the ICBMs of Space Empires IV. Got a planet that's really bugging you, but you don't want to send a fleet to glass it? Drone it to death. Need some really powerful, hard-to-stop anti-capital ship missiles? Drones. They kind of combine the role of the fighter, the capship, satellites, and mines, all in one small package. They are also the only units that can travel through warp points.

Also, I suppose you could mod some drones as sort of mobile ship refueling devices. Well, if you could fleet with them, that is.

[capnq]

Can someone please explain why drones A. don't stack B. can't be fleeted

Those were deliberate design decisions when MM implemented them.

They can be multi-selected by shift-clicking.

[ November 07, 2002, 23:02: Message edited by: capnq ]

[Phoenix-D]

"They can be multi-selected by shift-clicking."

Yes, but the problem here is I loose track of which drones I've dealt with and which I haven't..

Phoenix-D

[capnq]

Yes, but the problem here is I loose track of which drones I've dealt with and which I haven't.

(F6) Ships/Orders/(only) Display Units helps a little; sort by Name, then by Orders, and the ones without orders will separate from the rest. Doesn't do much good if you're sending several Groups out from the same sector, though, since clicking one on the list just sends you to the sector; you still have to pay attention to the numbers to find the one that you clicked on the list.

[Dan C.]

This may be another wild comment chase, however the vehiclesize.txt states that Drones may or may not be under player control (depends on components).
Now in tactial combat I can not seem to ever control the drones. Does anyone know if this comment refers to tactical, or stategic movement and which comonent is referred to or is it all a placeholder for some unimplemented feature?

[Phoenix-D]

The header information in the files is quite old and rarely updated. That particular section pre-dates SE4 Gold; it's been in there since the begining. It's out of date..drones cannot be controled in tactical and can be given only attack orders in strategic, that's how it works.

Phoenix-D

[tbontob]

Originally posted by Hotfoot:
Need some really powerful, hard-to-stop anti-capital ship missiles? Drones. They kind of combine the role of the fighter, the capship, satellites, and mines, all in one small package. They are also the only units that can travel through warp points.

I know next to nothing about drones...

How are drones harder to stop than CSM's? Drones have a damage resistance of 50, the same as CSM's. What am I missing here?

Also, drones require 5 supply per turn. Can you put a solar collector on it and let it "hang" in space until it is needed?

And finally, "They are also the only units that can travel through warp points." What does this mean in practice?