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Morn Judith
Caldari
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Posted - 2007.03.06 21:13:00 -
[1]
So I trained up to use these things, and I found I am left with a bunch of questions after my first few uses of them.
What role do they fill? I noticed that when they do hit, they do a good amount of damage.
What ranges and types of targets are they best against? I think that they don't do too well on frigs at close range. Anyone?
They don't move, right? Do they only work well when you're not moving in anywhere?
I need some answers!
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Siren Sylvanis
Gallente
No Quarter.
C0VEN
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Posted - 2007.03.06 21:22:00 -
[2]
Sentry drones are immobile, so you will either have to stay still while using them, or run back to your drones to scoop them up.
Their damage is comparable to the corresponding racial heavy drone, I believe the damage with Sentry Drone Interfacing 4 vs Heavy Drones 4 is slightly, negligibly favored towards the sentries.
Advantages of the sentry drones are: longer range of drones. The thermal sentries hit at an optimal of 20km (modified by drone sharpshooting, be sure to take that into account) whereas the kinetic sentries can hit out as far as 50km! (plus falloff, etc).
Note that how far your sentry drones shoot is still limited by your targeting range. The longer range drones, especially, have ranges greater than the average, unmodified drone control range of the average drone user. Targeting range can be extended via drone link augmentors, which then allow your drones to lock targets that are within their optimal.
In general, the shorter the range of the drone, the better its tracking and the more damage it does. Therm drones have the least range (20km) and a 1.6x base damage mod, kinetic drones have the most range (50km) and the worst damage mod, etc.
Sentry drones are useful for being able to immediately bring heavy drones worth of damage onto a target which is out at long range, where normal heavy drones will take a long time to get there and a long time to get back. This is countered by the fact that you kind of have to stay still in order to use them, else have to get back to where you dropped the drones in order to scoop them.
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What doesn't manage to kill you... has made a tactical error.
That is a Templar, an Amarr fighter. It is a combat drone used by carriers. |
Scorpyon
F.R.E.E. Explorer
EVE Animal Control
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Posted - 2007.03.06 21:25:00 -
[3]
Sentry drones are really for sniping at range where the transversal velocity is low since there tracking isn't that great. Since they don't move, if **** hits the fan just leave them since they don't cost that much.
Scorp
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Mog Carns
Industrial Warlords
United Confederation of Corporations
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Posted - 2007.03.06 21:32:00 -
[4]
They are anti battleship devices.
Defensively, they are small targets with cruiser level shields and armor, making them excellent for scooping.
Offensively, they are long range, with the tracking of medium guns, but the damage, range, and resolution of large guns. Shooting them at cruisers and smaller targets leads to many misses. They are decently effective against nano BSs.
Many people assume the misses are based on tracking, and try webber or tracking links (the links are needed for hitting nanos). This is not the case, the ships are merely too small a target. You may try target painting for better results.
Clueless Noob |
Sir Howard
Gallente
SAS.
The Foundation.
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Posted - 2007.03.06 21:47:00 -
[5]
I use them in my missioning Domi for lv 4's...and personally.. I LOVE THEM! Without mods I can target 54 km away, so I put a sensor booster and 2 drone range mods on for a drone control range of 94km. And in all honesty, I can seriously start hitting BC's, Cruisers, and BS's at that 94km. Usually when enganging a gorup of rats at my max range I can get around 4 to 6 BC, Cruiser kills before the rest of the gang gets up close on me. (useing wardens obviously) As far as frigates go, as an opening agro shot they wont hit them. however once they start to align towards you at a long distance away they are pretty much flying straight at you and my wardens can one shot frigates at that point....that being a range of 85is to 45ishkm away. Once anything gets as close to you as say 35km your done with sentrys use something else.
"This is a bad idea wrapped in a horrible plan and shipped in a retarded box" |
Centurin
Citizens of E.A.R.T.H.
E.A.R.T.H. Federation
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Posted - 2007.03.06 22:14:00 -
[6]
This is off topic, but does anyone know off hand the max range of wardens? I was hoping to get them to hit from 150k out with my ishtar and several drone mods, but wasn't sure if this was possible. Assuming max skills of course.
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"It's great playing Caldari Online, isn't it?" by Xori Ruscuv
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xenodia
Gallente
RONA Corporation
RONA Alliance
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Posted - 2007.03.06 22:28:00 -
[7]
 Originally by: Morn Judith
So I trained up to use these things, and I found I am left with a bunch of questions after my first few uses of them.
What role do they fill? I noticed that when they do hit, they do a good amount of damage.
What ranges and types of targets are they best against? I think that they don't do too well on frigs at close range. Anyone?
They don't move, right? Do they only work well when you're not moving in anywhere?
I need some answers!
Sentry drones, assuming youve trained up the skill, do a bit more damage than T1 heavies, but less than T2 heavies. They allow drone ships to snipe at medium range with a respectable amount of damage.
They work really well on an ishtar because of the natural bonus to drone control range, but a Domi with drone links can put them to good use as well. On my mission running domi, even using bouncers (which are supposed to be the short range, high tracking sentries), I can instapop frigates at 80km as long as theres little or no transversal. Works great in missions for popping ships as they MWD right towards you. They can also take quite a pounding, so they dont usually have to worry about losing one unless youve moved too far away from it and it comes under fire or something.
They are immobile though, so you either need to stay pretty close to them, or travel back to them to scoop them. I tend to just put my ship on a 500m orbit of the sentries while I have them out.
This signature space for rent |
xenodia
Gallente
RONA Corporation
RONA Alliance
|
Posted - 2007.03.06 22:30:00 -
[8]
Originally by: Sir Howard
I use them in my missioning Domi for lv 4's...and personally.. I LOVE THEM! Without mods I can target 54 km away, so I put a sensor booster and 2 drone range mods on for a drone control range of 94km. And in all honesty, I can seriously start hitting BC's, Cruisers, and BS's at that 94km. Usually when enganging a gorup of rats at my max range I can get around 4 to 6 BC, Cruiser kills before the rest of the gang gets up close on me. (useing wardens obviously) As far as frigates go, as an opening agro shot they wont hit them. however once they start to align towards you at a long distance away they are pretty much flying straight at you and my wardens can one shot frigates at that point....that being a range of 85is to 45ishkm away. Once anything gets as close to you as say 35km your done with sentrys use something else.
Use bouncers instead. They can still hit out that far, do more damage than wardens, and have better tracking. I one or 2 shot frigates at 80km with bouncers, and they can still hit even down to 20-30k range.
This signature space for rent |
Christopher Dalran
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Posted - 2007.03.06 22:46:00 -
[9]
Edited by: Christopher Dalran on 06/03/2007 22:43:27
Don't forget omni directional tracking links, those push out drone optimal to extreme ranges and allows them to hit very fast moving targets at relatively close ranges. They are good for 1 volleying (sometimes it takes 2) interceptors or other small fast ships that can ruin a mining op. They are also great if you want to do lvl 4 missions in a Domi but hate how long it takes your heavy drones to fly out to their targets.
Lets say for example you want to protect some miners, you can fly around the belt deploying sentry drones at interval and can instantly hit any sized target at extremely long ranges for more than t1 heavy drone damage. You need those omni links tho if you want your sentry drones to be the best they can be.
I usually put 2 omni links on my domi and to put things in perspective my heavy drones usually hit most frigates for what appears to be max or near max damage.
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Dr Depression
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Posted - 2007.03.06 22:49:00 -
[10]
ALso if you play around with some friend you can use 5 of them on a vexor which is just fun
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MrTripps
Gallente
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Posted - 2007.03.06 22:51:00 -
[11]
Originally by: Siren Sylvanis
Targeting range can be extended via drone link augmentors, which then allow your drones to lock targets that are within their optimal.
Just to clarify, the link augmenters allow your drones to get further away from you before you lose control of them. They are a hi slot mod. Omni directional tracking links are med slot mods that increase the range of the drone itself. Targeting range is determined by the ship.
Most people would sooner die than think; in fact, they do so. - Bertrand Russell |
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