Mike Voidstar
Voidstar Free Flight Foundation
16
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Posted - 2012.12.14 13:42:00 -
[1] - Quote
The problems with the new AI and drones are fairly simple.
They want drones to be used up similar to the way ammo is used up, but the drone system does not support that.
A full flight of drones easily costs as much as an equivalent weapon system and there is very limited space for 'reloads' making the fact that they now get shot out of space with regularity even with the pilot being ocd about watching them much more than simply annoying. Using drones now is kind of like having your weapons randomly overheat only without the benefits... sometimes they just burn out in a few seconds and are worthless until you get back to the station.
I am in favor of drones, and any other ships entering the mission space, being viable targets for the rats, and that the silly stupid ai of one target till death has been done away with. However, if we are going to introduce aggro mechanics to EVE, we need to introduce the whole concept---meaning ways to manage aggro. It is currently somewhere between exceedingly difficult to impossible to bring a fleet of mixed sized ships into a level 4 mission unless everyone is a very skilled pilot and in T2 ships with multiple Logi pilots. Eventually something other than a battleship gathers the aggro of the whole room and pops like a soap bubble. I'm not really seeing the 'size appropriate' splitting of aggro happening. This is true of drones as well as pilots in smaller ships.
To fix the drones needs a overhaul of the entire system, or else a massive reduction in the signature of drones so that they can't be reliably hit by anything under frigate size. They need to be altered such that they support the 'drones are ammo' paradigm, or else changed so that they are as viable in combat as other ships. I'd tend to change them so that you install a Drone System in your ship which used up 'ammo' in the form of spare parts---when activated the system lauches it's drone, when the drone returned it is repaired using parts, when the drone is destroyed another is built using the parts (taking some time, a minute or 2). This way you keep the dynamic of drones, but don't cripple a drone boat until it returns to station.
For added fun give us some modules or make it a feature of the Drone System that parts are made from metal scraps and maybe cheap salvage components. |