Yet another drone thread.

So, from the devblog:

http://community.eveonline.com/devblog.asp?a=blog&nbid=73413
3. Q) Will NPC's kill my drones?
A) Yes, but they don't hate them nearly as much as sleepers. I ran 9 level 4 missions and lost 2 drones. It does mean you need to pay more attention though. We can adjust their hatred of drones though which is why we are asking for feedback when this hits a test server.


My experience, purely PvE:
- T2 drones are just to waste money. Despite watching the drone window closely and calling them back at the first sight of damage (with Shift+R, aka no time lost in right click + return) they go pop.
- The new change in which only "elite frigates" will shot light combat drones help, yet, who the heck know all the elite frigates names of all rats?

And for statistics: ONE Worlds Collide, 6 light combat drones lost. Kind of waaaaay different than what was said in the devblog. Oh wait, perhaps they were running L4s like "The Right Hand of Zaazzzz(whatever)", in which you warp in, pop everything and don't even launch your drones... riiiight...

Perhaps it is me, perhaps it is the difference in expectations, but something went really wrong along the way...

[snip] who the heck know all the elite frigates names of all rats? [snip]

Devs don't actually play pve.

Use and learn to use the Type column in your overview.

Some interesting replies, thanks.

I've been loosing drones asking them to target frigates orbiting my BS at less than 20kms, which I can't hit anymore with large turrets of course.

I'm not sending them 40kms away, I'm recalling them as soon as I see them taking any damage, but usually the first volley put them on hull already, then it is just a sneeze to pop them.

All I do in the game is missioning, and that has been like that since day 1. Tried Incursions, ok, but I do like missioning. Never lost drones to misguiding them or sending them to do the wrong thing. Used to fly droneboats, but liked turrets more, so now drones are just for support.

Honestly? I just don't see what else could be done to avoid the problem.

You can use the micro jump drive to get range for your turrets.
You can release your drones, but don't send them. When the elites switch, recall them. You should have 2 minutes after that to launch them and take out the frigates. (Some missions, the rats switch faster, so be aware).

What are your drone skills like? [...] I think a lot of people have the very minimum to use them, but they should be trained properly to be effective..

Sentry drones + 12 mill skill points in drones makes for fewer drone losses and quicker missions. Use a Rattle Snake for it's drone bonuses and large drone bay. Fit a passive tank and drone upgrades and your laughing

Too much theorycrafting, not enough undocking. Your first set of sentries will soon be stripped of shield, then armor, then next set. Think they'll fix themselves in that dronebay?

Time to get these rr domis set up...

What are your drone skills like? Once you have T2 lights and mediums, the other should all be at lvl4, like any other weapon/defense skill. The more damage the do, the quicker the npc are dead, the faster they move.. the quicker they will return and of course drone durability helps heaps with getting them back safer..
I think a lot of people have the very minimum to use them, but they should be trained properly to be effective..

All that's needed is a UI change to indicate when your drones are being targetted. If that was implemented (It's been a long running feature request) that would make things a whole lot easier (in regards to losing drones anyway - not necessarily being able to apply dps).

Not at all... there shields take a bashing and it occasionally even gets through to there armour if I'm slow but it's not difficult to scoop a drone and kick it out again or even scoop the lot in and put them out again.

Not sure what the value of commenting to another drone bitching thread is.... but I only have ~400K SP in drones and I rarely lose them now that I had time to understand how the new agro system works. Here are my lessons learned:

1) Kill elite frigs first when possible (see note 2). No, it isn't hard to know all the types. They are generally the ones with three words in their name (vice 2). See mission reports and npc db for exact answers.

2) Elite frigs are more likely to shift aggro to drones if they are not actively shooting you. So allow the elite frigs to shoot you before sending your drones after them.

3) Always use lights until all aggro'd frigs are dead. Then mediums until all aggro'd cruisers are dead.

4) React to agro shifts BEFORE you're drones start getting shot by a change in the agro box from red to yellow. This is more difficult when running missions with a fleet. Another potential ques are the beep from the log off timer being reset when all agro shifts away from you.

Hey Kestrix,

I'll try it with a drone boat. Got a Rattlesnake and the modules, just need to dust it off and go for it. However, my major concern is still for gunboats, where the light drones play the major role of saving your butt from scrambling frigates.

Not at all... there shields take a bashing and it occasionally even gets through to there armour if I'm slow but it's not difficult to scoop a drone and kick it out again or even scoop the lot in and put them out again.

Whoa! Lots of replies! And some good ideas!

Hey Cage,

I've was using Hobgoblins II, with specialization at lvl 4, but switched back to T1 just because it was expensive to loose T2 drones every now and then.

Drone Interfacing is at 5, so, there is not much more to put into for damage, and Durability is at 3, but I don't think taking it to 4 or 5 would be a game changer. Usually it is a volley and drones are at the hull already.

I was, before the patch, planning to fly a Rattlesnake, got the ship, modules and everything, was just finishing training for T2 Sentries when the patch came out and zapped that idea. =/

.

The problem is people panicking before actually playing or adapting. I'm not losing any drones and mission completion times are the same.

Actually, the problem is "insta pop" of light combat drones.