drone carriers

[ConCorDian]

ive got myself a pretty well established complex now producing Mk2 FD's and i also have a stock of around 200 Keris... big question is has anyone tried operating ships as drone carriers? if so how well do they work for IS/OOS combat?

im thinking if i setup a few Ospery M6's as small scale carriers and perhaps use a Gannet as a larger carrier

thinking for the Gannet load in maybe ISR back turret plus sheilds and maybe 80 Hammers for anti cap hits that should still leave me space for upto 1250 FDMK2's with space still for 1700ECells if my calculations are right

as for the Ospery i was thinking load it with just PRG's for basic defence, sheilds and maybe 250 Drones plus space for ecells.

i like the look of the Teladi ships as almost Remote controlled ships. thats why i was looking at these ships. i did think about a TL but having like 10k Drones was just a tad excessive i thought

[Infekted]

Very effective. However be careful how many you drop whilst IS... I once dropped one thousand in a xenon sector and my computer almost blew up.. ;p

[Alan Phipps]

If you like lore roleplay then have a look at the Griffon M7 and its in-game description as a Mk2 Drone Carrier.

[ConCorDian]

yeh i was aware of the griffon. thats partly why i was wondering if they were very useful. ive used TS's with a load of them before to dump into a Xenon Sec more as a distraction than anything else in order to bring in my ships but ive never tried using them as an actual offencive weapon.

[ConCorDian]

this might be a stupid question but ive never tried to do it before and thats why im asking. can you issue a dock command with fighter drones? if so would it be better to use something like the griffon with hanger slots to recoup some of what you drop if any are still alive?

[AgamemnonArgon]

I have a Griffon that is docked but have never tried it.
Much prefer the Panther.
How about using Elephants or another Type of TL as a Drone Carrier, if quantity is the main key to success.

[ConCorDian]

because i would be too tempted to launch all drones and on a comp that is 6yrs old it wont even make that big a bang!!! computer would more go ka-put with a *humf*

TL's are too big for this i think, as i said already if an M7M can carry like 1250 drones with enough other stuff installed i was thinking a TL would be too much.

i actually used my divertionary tactic last night, bought a Magnetar loaded in my Nova Raider plus another 3 as well as 50 FD Mk1's (all i had sitting) because i knew the Xenon were all over the gate in sec 101 i jumped in with the magnetar dumped al fighter drones and launched the other two nova's then mine with my wingman. i looped out in all the confusion whilst the rest got blew up.... (gate had 4 Q's 2K's and a J as well as god knows how many fighters) id love to know how that got back there in the treasure hunt plot!!!

[Ripskar]

I did it back during Final Fury with my Vidar and then my Shrike.
It worked, but at the cost of the game becoming a slide show and gravidar going epileptic.

[Rhox]

I'm producing keris drones only as I use fighter drones for two purposes which both require a lot of firepower:
1. OOS TS defense (where the Keris' lack of speed compared to Mk1s and Mk2 isn't a problem)
2. IS shield supression for boarding Xenon ships in my Sirocos (where the drones have to lower the last 10-20% of shielding of my target)

However, I once also learned ho deadly a bunch of even 20 Keris is when I didn't order them to supress the shield, but rather to attack my target. That J went up in seconds when the shields were gone

best regards,
Rhox

[Laden Swallow]

If you order drones to 'protect target ship', if that ship has a hangar bay, then the drones will land on the following condition:

1. There are no enemies in the sector (this can be circumvented using a quick change to IFF settings).
2. They have sufficient energy left to return to the carrier.
3. Ideally you want to be out of sector when issuing the 'protect' command, this way multiple drones (hint almost all of them) can dock simultaneously saving a huge loss waiting for them to dock 1 at a time.

They are exceptionally useful to maintain a pacifist playthrough (harmless rating) and still achieve the plots.

[Virtualaughing]

Fighter and BS class ships won't launch drones on their own. You must use manual command to do it.

[Morkonan]

this might be a stupid question but ive never tried to do it before and thats why im asking. can you issue a dock command with fighter drones? if so would it be better to use something like the griffon with hanger slots to recoup some of what you drop if any are still alive?

I read somewhere around here that if the ship has hanger slots and is OOS, it will recover the drones if it survives. I haven't tested that, yet.

[Vim Razz]

this might be a stupid question but ive never tried to do it before and thats why im asking. can you issue a dock command with fighter drones? if so would it be better to use something like the griffon with hanger slots to recoup some of what you drop if any are still alive?

I read somewhere around here that if the ship has hanger slots and is OOS, it will recover the drones if it survives. I haven't tested that, yet.

If the Ship has a free hanger slot, and the drones are ordered to "protect ship" (with no hostile ships in sector), then yes: the drones will dock and transfer automatically into the cargo bay.

You don't ~need~ to be OOS for it to work, but it's a million times faster, as OOS docking is instant. So generally, the easiest way to retrieve drones is to leave the sector and order them to follow/protect the ship you want them to dock to.


This brings me to my only criticism with the OP: Gannet and Osprey have no hanger bays, so they can't retrieve drones. Maybe try a TM for your drone carrier. A Chokaro can carry 400 Mk2 drones with 800 jump fuel and weapons+shields, and can pick them up again afterwords without spending hours to do it.

[ConCorDian]

This brings me to my only criticism with the OP: Gannet and Osprey have no hanger bays, so they can't retrieve drones. Maybe try a TM for your drone carrier. A Chokaro can carry 400 Mk2 drones with 800 jump fuel and weapons+shields, and can pick them up again afterwords without spending hours to do it.

this was why i was asking. i myself just a personal veiw saw the Gannet and Osprey to look like what i think of as drone carriers. what i might look at is TM's and perhaps also the Xenon J and the Teladi Condor. that way i can perhaps put a load of Deca.#### (Aldrin AGI) in as well to pump up the punching power of the drone carriers as well. then tally on the fact that they have full 360 FLAK it could make a deadly anti fighter platform

and just to make the RP complete i could cap a few Xenon LX as missile/bomber drones with its 350 cargo hold. and no need to jump, it should be able to carry a decent spread of missiles.

use the Deca.Fade with 2 EEMPC as an interceptor and the Deca.Deaf as a heavy drone with 2 or 4 PMAML.