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Ishmael Ronuken
Native Freshfood Minmatar Republic
2
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Posted - 2016.03.31 05:09:44 -
[1] - Quote
So I was thinking about something looking at the various drone skills as well as drone types and it kind of hit me. This may seem obscure but bare with me.
What if we improve drone damage dramatically but reduce the full number in the flight? Like maybe a frigate like a Tristan would only be able to field 2 or 3 of them, but they would ultimately be as strong as a flight of 5 currently.
I have also been thinking why we don't just have drone chassis which have various stats (and possible bonuses) and then apply upgrades to individual drones on an individual basis? For example:
A Gallente Hobgoblin chassis has a bonus to hybrid weapon strength and sensor dampening (and curious if having a drone nanite repair system that sort of auto-ran as a form of rep would be nice). Now I can fit a drone with a normal weapon module or ewar module or logistic module (only one), thus making the hobgoblin either a damage drone or support. Now for the chassis modification slot I can put either extended armor, extended shield, improved weapon damage/firerate/tracking, boost to speed, or a boost to ewar/logi power. This means I have full ability to customize my drones based on the task at hand that I need. After brainstorming I'm not sure if it's better to have only one item, or up to two items (that can stack with same penalties). This could be set on a tab next to the fitting window once the drone bay is selected, bringing up a secondary window with various forms of drones listed and flight management next to that window (so you can have a mix if you desire).
So what I can effectively have is a Hobgoblin drone that is a blaster machine with drone blasters and drone weapon modification, or possibly a heavily tanked sensor dampener hobgoblin, or even a lightning-fast logistics hobgoblin.
What I would also like to see, is a bit of an advanced preface when working with drone flights. Perhaps setting engagement ranges of the drones as well as AI behaviors. Such things would be nice on Caldari or Amarr drones as they would possibly have the range to sit out in an orbit of 8k or so instead of getting directly on top something at 1k.
The only downside is that Sentries, being basically just flying guns, would probably not really change (unless for some reason folk thought it a good idea to make logi or ewar sentries, which the concept scares me). I would also assume this level of customization and AI control would be carried over to fighters and fighter-bombers. Except with the exception that fighters and fighter-bombers would literally have the customization of a frigate available to them possibly with unique upgrade moduels (or maybe just frigate modules).
So, in short:
Drone customization concept: -Racial drones are now the chassis -Drones have drone weapons -Drones now have equipment to upgrade the chassis for a specific role -Window opens up in the regular ship fitting screen -In the drone window of the fitting screen you can set drone AI in terms of engagement range, aggression, and perhaps another miscellaneous drone behavior.
I only bring this up as I love my RTS games and this would really feel awesome to have that extra layer of customization atop the versatility that is drones. Plus, I feel it would give drones a good presence besides "random flying x on the engagement radar". |
The Bigpuns
Touring New Eden Haven.
142
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Posted - 2016.03.31 07:50:40 -
[2] - Quote
Oh god, can you imagine the micro-management! I get annoyed enough at losing drones in a mission anyway, let alone a flight of drones that I had to tune up!
It's an interesting idea, but I think ccp are looking at paring drones down, not making them more complicated... |
Anyura
Dark-Rising
189
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Posted - 2016.03.31 12:31:01 -
[3] - Quote
Back in days of yore, ships could field up to 10 drones - the Guardian Vexor being a legacy example. In order to reduce the load on servers, drone flight size was reduced from 10 to 5 and a HP damage bonus was introduced instead to bring them up to equivalent.
The ideas you've suggested about microing are sort of being introduced into fighter wings for carriers from what I understand, in that you can have different types of fighters making up wings. |
Ishmael Ronuken
Native Freshfood Minmatar Republic
2
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Posted - 2016.03.31 18:28:23 -
[4] - Quote
The Bigpuns wrote:Oh god, can you imagine the micro-management! I get annoyed enough at losing drones in a mission anyway, let alone a flight of drones that I had to tune up!
It's an interesting idea, but I think ccp are looking at paring drones down, not making them more complicated...
Actually, from how I put it, it would be significantly less micromanagement as there would be fewer drones to manage and the AI template would be set in the hangar. There is a direct benefit to the described design. Everyone can tell if you place down Hornet EC300's that those guys are going to try and jam you. No surprise there. However, if they were just in caldari drone chassis then the person you are facing would have less of a time understanding what exactly that drone is designed to do. It's like flying Minmatar, but in drone format. |
lolcorpholder alt
Aliastra Gallente Federation
86
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Posted - 2016.03.31 19:51:33 -
[5] - Quote
Is this an idea? A feature?
Are you discussing it?
https://forums.eveonline.com/default.aspx?g=topics&f=270#
There's a forum for it |
Ishmael Ronuken
Native Freshfood Minmatar Republic
2
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Posted - 2016.03.31 20:14:17 -
[6] - Quote
Oh thank ya!
I'm rather new and didn't know that area existed. |
Kamahl Daikun
Back To Basics. Tactical Supremacy
114
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Posted - 2016.04.01 14:06:40 -
[7] - Quote
So, basically making max drone count lower but giving them the default stats of 5 and having the option to customize their fit?
Not sure how I feel about this. It would take a noticeable amount of effort to get them up to the point where this could even be implemented. To add to that, drones would become more expensive.
I sort of like the idea but I sort of see where this can fail horribly. |
Do Little
Virgin Plc Evictus.
276
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Posted - 2016.04.01 16:57:42 -
[8] - Quote
"What if we improve drone damage dramatically but reduce the full number in the flight?"
Take a look at the Gurista pirate ships Worm, Gila and Rattlesnake. CCP has already delivered what you're asking for. |
Donnachadh
United Allegiance of Undesirables
786
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Posted - 2016.04.02 14:59:49 -
[9] - Quote
Do Little wrote:"What if we improve drone damage dramatically but reduce the full number in the flight?"
Take a look at the Gurista pirate ships Worm, Gila and Rattlesnake. CCP has already delivered what you're asking for. Except the customization aspect of the OP. Overall I say -1 because balance issues that would ensue with the customization option.
And based on my experience with the Rattle, Gila and Worm since their change and then comparing them to the Tristan, Vexor, Ishtar, Ishkur and Domi I would say no thank you to the reducing the flight sizes. Having said that for server load related issues we may very well see all drones ships follow the path of the Pirate ships. |
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