Rexx Roxx
   |
Posted - 2005.12.29 16:59:00 -
[1]
Correct me if I am wrong, but here is my view on the RMR Mining/drone changes:
1. Biggest factor - Max drones per ship "limited to 5"
2. Changed Drone Interfacing (DI) from +1 drone per level to +20% damage & +20% mining yield bonus per level. In effect, damage and mining yield per drone can be doubled at lvl 5. Big problem for ships that could control more than 10 drones pre-RMR due to their previous ship bonus...which was taken out with RMR.
3. The ships that lost the extra drone control bonus got +damage instead, but did not get +mining bonus to compensate for their reduction in drones controllable. Unfair, but I think there is still hope...
4. So far, (post-RMR) with DI at lvl 5, you now have 5 drones that can yield "as much as 10" pre-RMR. If you had 15 before due to ship bonus, then you are in effect now getting 2/3 the mining yield out of your drones as before. However, if you choose to train up Advanced Drone Interfacing (ADI) to level 5, you can still get another 5 drones to control (correct me if the 5 per ship rule doesn't allow this, but that's what the skill description says).
So... you can now in theory control 10 drones @ 2x mining yield as pre-RMR since you need to train DI to lvl 5 before you can train ADI. This will give you an extra (base) mining yield of 5 drones more than you could possibly get pre-RMR with your ship bonus (10 drones @ 2x yield = 20 base yield). Bear in mind, the mining barges and (I think all) T1 mining frigs/cruisers cannot even hold 10 drones now. Not sure if ADI was available pre-RMR though and if so then #4 here is not applicable.
A side note here - even if you only train ADI to lvl 3, that would put you just above where you were pre-RMR with 15 drones (8 drones @ 2x yield = 16 base yield). Lvl 3 shouldnt take much additional training, and will in the end be a lil better yield.
5. Drone bays got cut in half - another factor that hurts in many ways explained in various threads on these forums...not gonna rehash that stuff. However, the bigger ships (BS's noted in this thread included) still have bays that can hold 10+ drones to control and the other "mining ships" that get mining yield bonuses with RMR cannot. In essence though, you can have less backups for when they get popped, but they are much better backups.
6. New drone skills - Yes they take alot of additional training, but are worth at least some partial investment. Drone Navigation increases their velocity, which may slightly increase their yield by reducing travel time to/from roids, and makes them a bit harder to hit by Rats/players. Drone Durability also helps them last a bit longer. As someone else mentioned, training up to use sentry drones can also be a nice defense for your miner. These skills add to the inherent hitpoint increase that drones got with RMR too.
All in all, with a lil extra skill training, any ship, even those that got "nerfed" can be better miners than before RMR. At least that is how I see it.
|