Drones were never supposed to take zero aggro in PvE sites. The reason for this is that if drones take zero aggro it becomes incredibly easy to setup an essentially AFK setup (cough VNI cough) and the inherent advantages drones have over guns (application, range, fitting) pretty quickly snowball.

CCP indicated that they're looking at a rework of drone/rat interactions in the Carrier thread, but since that seems to be towards curbing AFK gameplay I somehow very much doubt that they're going to go in this direction.

Having to micro and pay attention to your drones is supposed to be the trade-off for all those advantages, and that is interesting gameplay when it works. The current problem is that most of the time there's not much to do besides watch the drone die and send out more after aggro stabilizes, which is less than ideal on the whole.

Err no you cannot afk rat. Yes it does add to gameplay.

Drones come with pros and cons like everything else. You can switch to a different weapon system or you can fly closer to your target.

Better idea:

Automatic drone functions. Start simply, with drones that automatically return to bay once they're fired upon. They don't re-launch, they just return.

Maybe build from there, maybe not.


How does that sound? Still nukes AFK setups, while reducing micro-management. Drones can still be webbed and killed by NPCs, or killed by PCs.

Like i said, get closer to your target or change weapon system.

I don't have an issue with Drone Aggro at the moment. But I do wish there were some indicator that would let me know if one of my drones were being targeted instead of waiting to see that damage is being applied.

Maybe something like the yellow box/red box we have with rats/players targeting/aggressing us but rather put the yellow/red box around the drone in the drone window that shows that my drone is being targeted by someone other than me or is being aggressed.

If the main reason behind drone aggro is anti AFK ratting they might as well build in a simple timer that will auto recall / abandon drone if there is no game activity of any kind for X amount of time.

I would rather have them remove the entire AUTO attack feature (incoming rage ? ) then this non stop drone aggro nonsense.

and i mean especially in DED sites it's not to bad in regular anomlies

Anyways thanks for your input o/

Been saying this for years. Even in DeD sites I have very little issue with drone agro and it has been six months or more since I lost a drone to NPC rats.

How do you work this magic? well it truly is extremely simple.
First you keep your drones on a very short leash, nothing more than 20k to 25k and even then only the fast moving lights should be that far out. Beyond that sentries are your best option.
Keeping them this close means you can recall them to safety BEFORE they die even if they have full room agro, well you can provided you are attentive to the damage indicators.
Keeping them this close means that for most of their time outside the safety of the drones bay they are within range of a remote shield booster or armor rep which really can make the difference between a drone that needs repair or having to replace it.
If you are not using sentry drones then the drone link augmentor should never be fit to a ship used for PvE activities you simply do not need that much control range and fitting one or more restricts your options for remote reps.
Does all of this require effort on your part as the pilot, well yes as a matter of fact it does. It raises your efforts to about the same level as a missile or turret pilot would have running the same DeD site and that alone is more than enough reason to leave drone agro as it is.

So in the end OP I see this more as a pilot problem than I do as an agro problem.
Adapt how you fly drones to meet the needs, or continue to lose them the choice is yours to make.
It is lazy and foolish to ask for a change to the game because you are incapable or unwilling to adapt to the situation you face.


People been asking for this since I started in 2010 so don't expect it to change anytime soon.

On the other hand this is simply not needed all you have to do is ask yourself one simple question.
Do I have drones outside my ship?
Yes - they WILL HAVE agro so take all appropriate actions to help minimize damage or loss.
No - then you do not need an indicator to tell you they are being targeted.
There you go targeting question answered quickly, simply and no changes to the game are needed and this has the added benefit that you are taking preventative measure from the moment you launch your drones.

No it doesn't need 'reliable' tool. What you're asking for is a switch that when fit, says 'my drones are immune to npc's'

Not going to happen. You already have ai that prioritises ewar and remote reps, so a simple target painter is likely to get them to switch target. You can already remote repair drones and only certain types of rats go for drones frequently.

Using drones has huge advantages. The price of this power? They get shot at.

If drone aggro was so bad why is everyone using them? Ishtars, VNI's, Rattlers, gilas, domi's and even the op with a drone proteus...

OP just needs to learn how to use drones.

No it doesn't need 'reliable' tool. What you're asking for is a switch that when fit, says 'my drones are immune to npc's'

Not going to happen. You already have ai that prioritises ewar and remote reps, so a simple target painter is likely to get them to switch target. You can already remote repair drones and only certain types of rats go for drones frequently.

Using drones has huge advantages. The price of this power? They get shot at.

If drone aggro was so bad why is everyone using them? Ishtars, VNI's, Rattlers, gilas, domi's and even the op with a drone proteus...

OP just needs to learn how to use drones.

So what you are saying is that to *properly* use drones you just have to not use any of the features that make them useful over guns, while still suffering all of their substantial relative drawbacks.

Honestly, I would not want the AI to be rolled back to when it didn't target drones. However, it was a poorly implemented change because there are no reliable tools to deal with agro, and actually very few unreliable tools.

It's ludicrous to say that drones should not be operating beyond 20k from the ship. They aren't sentry drones, and they should not have to operate like them. If that was how they should be used, then there should be a way to set a tether so that they won't stray from that range, and really you should not be able to get them 60k from the ship with skills alone.

It's also pretty stupid to claim that watching the drone health bars like an OCD psychotic waiting for damage to appear while also managing your ship like any other pilot and manually ensuring that no drone gets more than blaster range from the ship without any tools to manage the trick puts them on the same level of effort as using guns or missiles. There is no reason to remove drone agro (and thus enable afk combat), but that does not mean the situation is OK and not in need of correction.

People been asking for this since I started in 2010 so don't expect it to change anytime soon.

On the other hand this is simply not needed all you have to do is ask yourself one simple question.
Do I have drones outside my ship?
Yes - they WILL HAVE agro so take all appropriate actions to help minimize damage or loss.
No - then you do not need an indicator to tell you they are being targeted.
There you go targeting question answered quickly, simply and no changes to the game are needed and this has the added benefit that you are taking preventative measure from the moment you launch your drones.

Man, I love it when you overdose on the hyperbole.

Having a reliable tool does not mean it's a one shot solution that requires no further action or sacrifice.

I know people say the AI prioritizes Ewar and reps... but that has never been my experience in any kind of useful way. When the AI decides drones must die, it focuses on drones, period. You can pull them back in, but as soon as you put them out it switches right back, no matter what kind of ewar and repping you are doing... often focusing on the same drone they were shooting when you pulled them in. I use target painters all the time, as it's one of the few useful ewars in PvE and benefits both my ship and the drones, but at no point have I ever seen anything switch to me over it.

Ewar in general needs a solid look for use in PvE anyway, in most cases it's entirely useless. But drones were originally designed and balanced without AI aggroing them except in special circumstances, and making the change to what we have now without addressing methods of dealing with it was irresponsible and lazy development.

Man, I love it when you overdose on the hyperbole.

Having a reliable tool does not mean it's a one shot solution that requires no further action or sacrifice.

like specialized reps with 60k range that only work on drones and don't require a target lock, modules to improve their tank or redirect damage back to your own ship, etc...

You cannot let drones get far enough from your ship to be useful.

How far do they need to go to be useful? And I am asking that as a serious question.

I never let heavies or the Gecko go out more than 8k to 10k because the larger slower targets you would use them on are easy prey for the Garde from there out to about 30k to 35k.

I never let mediums go out more than 12k to 15k because at that range out to 30k to 35k the Garde can deal with them, and even if they can't then simply ignore them and work on other targets until they get closer.

I rarely let lights go out more than 20k to 25k because on an average anything that is 20k to 25k or more out is usually moving in a straight line directly towards you so they are easy prey for the Garde. Again those that the Garde cannot hit you simply ignore them until they are closer in.

At ranges past 30k to 35k the Garde start to have issues because they trade range to gain DPS and tracking. However at those ranges the Curator, Bouncer and Warden all start to come into their own and can easily pick off even fast moving frigates because most of them are heading straight towards you so there are very few tracking problems.

And the answer is no this is not how I employ drones because of the new agro mechanics, this is how I have ALWAYS employed my drones because it has proven to be the best way to employ them. It has the added benefit that I did not need to make changes to adapt to the new agro mechanics.

Yes I still spend most of my time flying drones ships with the Ishtar, Gila, Domi and Rattle getting the vast majority of that time. I do fly the Tristan a lot when running lower level missions etc with new players although I occasionally fly a Worm or Astero instead.

Have people forgotten that the op is using a proteus? He can get as close as he wants and tank just fine.