[X3 TC] Drone Boat's

alxander · Post by **alxander** » Sun, 10. Mar 13, 12:05

Hey there

I want to play a drone boat as main ship, but i need help in to figure out what ships do well as Drone Boats from the beginning to late game,.
Like, what should i look for and what should i not look for in a ship.

Been trying to use the internet to find some answers, but apparently people use them m1 and m7's as drone boats.. a little too expensive for me tbh.
I am a newcomer to this game, i just broke my first million mark in creds by stealing Boron Freights !

Thanks for the help

p.s
I've installed the m.a.r.s script for drone control.
Playing the Bankrupt Assassin so current ship is the Mamba

Kirlack · Post by **Kirlack** » Sun, 10. Mar 13, 12:11

Buy a TM, the Yaki Chokaro has the largest cargo bay for carrying drones, although it can only dock three fighters where all other TM can dock four. TMs cost ~500k credits.

alxander · Post by **alxander** » Sun, 10. Mar 13, 12:17

so in short, the TM's are the best ones suited for Drone Boats?!!

Kirlack · Post by **Kirlack** » Sun, 10. Mar 13, 12:20

Given your finances, yes. If you had the money I'd suggest a TL, but they cost 17 million +

alxander · Post by **alxander** » Sun, 10. Mar 13, 12:26

True, i am indeed poor.

The yaki ship stats looks good, but too bad i'm friendlies with the Argon Race, will take some time becoming friends with the yaki

My current red ones are the Boron's -4 there, and then its the pirates, yakis and the kha'ak, and random Bounty hunters.

So in short, you look at the cargo space and speed?!

Kirlack · Post by **Kirlack** » Sun, 10. Mar 13, 13:01

Shielding is also an issue for a drone carrier, and the TM class carries a top end total of 600Mj. Even a TL only carries 1Gj, so there's not a huge difference. Besides, with your drones nipping at the enemy at 400m/s you can launch them from 10km away and stay fairly safe

Cargo bay and speed are what I look for in a TM, hence the Chokey is my first choice

alxander · Post by **alxander** » Sun, 10. Mar 13, 14:20

Alright. Thanks Kirlack !

Earth Ultimatum IV. · Post by **Earth Ultimatum IV.** » Sun, 10. Mar 13, 15:08

Little tip. Try to avoid Keris drones. Use Fighter Drones MKII instead of those.

alxander · Post by **alxander** » Sun, 10. Mar 13, 15:36

Alright.. got 16 Fighter drones 1 and 7 MK2 ones on my mamba, currenlty have one TM at a docking station being prepared for Drone Boat.

.. i shuold read up on the use of m.a.r.s scripting for the drones, unable to make them repair my new claimed ship that is in 20% hull..

Earth Ultimatum IV. · Post by **Earth Ultimatum IV.** » Sun, 10. Mar 13, 16:59

I repair my ships like this:

1. Leave ship
2. Put Adidas spray on CTRL key
3. Wait a little bit
4.???
5. Profitssss!

I love to buy used ships for hilarious price, repair them and sell them for triple price!

DrBullwinkle · Post by **DrBullwinkle** » Sun, 10. Mar 13, 17:44

I like the Split Boa for its speed and Mass Drivers. Chokaro and OTAS Zephyrus are also excellent. But any TM is "good enough".

For software, MARS does not use drones for combat. However, MARS uses drones for many other purposes, so it may help you.

For combat, Launch Fighter Drone Hotkey is more direct. It gives you a hotkey to launch a group of drones (you can configure the amount).

(For vanilla players, just eject the number of drones that you want to launch from your freight menu.)

Then use the Shift-8 and Shift-9 keys to command them to Attack your Target or Protect your ship.

I did something similar to this in my first TC game. I bought a second-hand Boa when I was in Split space, and found drone factories nearby. That Boa was my favorite ship for a good, long, time. It was fast enough to "run" through Xenon sectors (before I had a jump drive), and it was tough enough with those Mass Drivers for many small combat situations. The drones made it fierce, even against larger targets.

Overall, using a TM as a drone "carrier" is excellent in the early game.

Triaxx2 · Post by **Triaxx2** » Sun, 10. Mar 13, 18:12

Early game? Even late game, a TM full of drones is a deadly weapon. I've seen M7M's have problems knocking them all out of the sky.

As for Xenon Sectors, the only things that can catch the Boa or Chokaro are M's and N's and both have enough firepower to knock those out.

DrBullwinkle · Post by **DrBullwinkle** » Sun, 10. Mar 13, 18:19

Yes, all true.

My comment about using a TM as a drone carrier early in the game is *because* they are "too good" later in the game. Thirty drones can kill an M2... that's just too much of a good thing.

However, if you wanted to go crazy with the idea, then you could play the entire game with a TM, a couple of fighters, a TP, and a lot of drones.

alxander · Post by **alxander** » Sun, 10. Mar 13, 19:49

I think i'm already doing great with my drones on my Mamba, the cool thing about the M.A.R.S mod is that you can target neutrals or if you dont have any targets at all, the drones will repair the ship.. pretty neat!

MARS, do have a limit on how many drones you can launch by 8.
But man its cool to watch the drones do the dirty work. i'm eating cookies and drink hot chocolate while i do kill missions or patrol missions with ease, nice way to farm rep too

I am thinking about making a drone army, but i think that drones might be a bit too good, i pay 30k for a drone with 2 PAC's and it aim, follow and kill stuff by it self. It's honestly too cheap

Didact · Post by **Didact** » Mon, 11. Mar 13, 15:03

alxander wrote: The yaki ship stats looks good, but too bad i'm friendlies with the Argon Race, will take some time becoming friends with the yaki

Slightly OT, bit I actually found that quite easy since Yaki stations offer missions.
If they hate and kill you on sight, RLSG, say sorry to their capitals, shred Paranids who try to get into their sectors or contact the odd Yaki fighters which offer "Destroy convoy" missons.
Killing Khaak in their sectory should also help.

Andyrids · Post by **Andyrids** » Mon, 11. Mar 13, 20:16

Not a bad idea that I think I will have a bit experiment with a TM and drones...

Far as I recall though the MARS drones can be set to attack enemy's in the configuration ?

ApatheticEthic · Post by **ApatheticEthic** » Mon, 11. Mar 13, 21:16

DrBullwinkle wrote:Yes, all true.

My comment about using a TM as a drone carrier early in the game is *because* they are "too good" later in the game. Thirty drones can kill an M2... that's just too much of a good thing.

Ever try an Ariadne full of heavy fighters and fighter drones? It's wicked fun.

DrBullwinkle · Post by **DrBullwinkle** » Mon, 11. Mar 13, 21:20

ApatheticEthic wrote:Ever try an Ariadne full of heavy fighters and fighter drones? It's wicked fun.

For OOS sector patrol and sector defense, I made Drone Carrier Software (DCS). It is intended for more-challenging (modified) games.

So that would be a "yes".

DCS would be overpowered in the player's hands, so it will not work if the player is flying it.

(Actually, the current version of DCS is overpowered in general -- which is a good thing for OOS defense in some combat-increased modified games. One of these days I will finish the "balanced version". Probably. )

ApatheticEthic · Post by **ApatheticEthic** » Mon, 11. Mar 13, 21:27

DrBullwinkle wrote:
ApatheticEthic wrote:Ever try an Ariadne full of heavy fighters and fighter drones? It's wicked fun.
For OOS sector patrol and sector defense, I made Drone Carrier Software (DCS). It is intended for more-challenging (modified) games.

So that would be a "yes".

DCS would be overpowered in the player's hands, so it will not work if the player is flying it.

This looks really handy. I've been looking for a good patrol vessel, but most corvettes and fighters don't fit the bill.

egosoft.com

egosoft.com

[X3 TC] Drone Boat's

[X3 TC] Drone Boat's