Killing Drones

Diche Bach · Post by **Diche Bach** » Sat, 28. Sep 13, 04:57

Took a whirl at the Bankrupt Assassin plot and saw I was red to Boron at game start. As they seem to have a small sliver of space I figured the were a good species to alienate myself from.

Attacked a Boron freighter in my Mamba and pretty quickly got her down to about 10% hull. Response to my "Surrender!" demand was some garble about "Not understanding" . . . yeah right just stalling for time . . .

The freighter itself never seems to have fired a shot. Maybe that was because I cunningly attacked it from its bow. However, after my demand for surrender I suddenly notice I'm getting shot at. Holy heck! there are several red boxes! Crap, must be my attack has attracted the cops . . . I maneuver to try to evade. I select one of them and realize it is a drone. My shields are down to like 25% already. I close on a drone and fire on him, repeatedly. Evidently not a single hit. This carries on for a good while and *boom* I die.

Not an auspicious career as a bankrupt assassin.

So what is the trick with drones? mosquito missiles? smaller 'caliber' lasers? Faster plasma bolts?

firestorm79 · Post by **firestorm79** » Sat, 28. Sep 13, 05:00

yep - mosquito or wasp missiles.

Diche Bach · Post by **Diche Bach** » Sat, 28. Sep 13, 05:18

Nice touch to combat dynamics. Big ships can die by a thousand cuts if they dont' have proper countermeasures!

Threesixtyci · Post by **Threesixtyci** » Sat, 28. Sep 13, 05:51

Mamba is not a big ship.... it's a fighter. Built for speed and firepower, lacks shields and all M3's lack hull.

And most Boron TS's have no guns.

MegaJohnny · Post by **MegaJohnny** » Sat, 28. Sep 13, 07:19

Heh, I'm glad you have a sense of humour about dying to drones. It can be very frustrating to be up against an enemy you just can't bleeding hit.

Anyway, as an alternative to missiles you could get a PRG - the extreme fire rate and bullet speed could help you mop up the drones. Make sure you have fight software MK2 as well, if you go for the PRG. It'll be hard enough hitting them even if you do have the computer's aim assist.

Timsup2nothin · Post by **Timsup2nothin** » Sat, 28. Sep 13, 07:42

Hug up to an asteroid. It cuts off 50% of their possible attack directions and the collision avoidance conflicts with their targeting. Pick them off one by one. IREs are fast enough to hit them and you can fire them pretty much continuously so you can afford plenty of misses. No need to hit them with anything bigger than an IRE anyway.

Rapier · Post by **Rapier** » Sat, 28. Sep 13, 09:29

Cohen the Barbarian wrote:Never enter an ass-kicking contest with a porcupine!

If you don't have the tools required to deal with drones, don't attack ships carrying drones. Scan the ship before attacking.

jjimlad · Post by **jjimlad** » Sat, 28. Sep 13, 10:27

And if the excellent advice above isn't for you; get your own drones or load a PBG or 2 into the hard points and forget about aiming all together :->

Sirrobert · Post by **Sirrobert** » Sat, 28. Sep 13, 12:07

Boron TSes don't have weapons yes, so they are easy targets. But those drons can indeed eat you up.

They go 400m/s, so no outrunning them. And they are VERY small, so the chance to hit them with HEPT is pritty low. If you go hunting drones, switch to wheatever weapon you have that shoots the fastest projectiles. Drones don't have shields and basicly no hull, so as long as you can hit they die.

Make sure you have auto-aim on, and shoot with boresight rather than right mouse click. That'll focus the aim EXACTLY on the suggested aim, improving your chance to hit.

Drones only have a 10 minute battery. When that runs out they die. Not all to usefull in your discribed situation, but if you do manage to get away from them they usually won't be able to follow.

And finally: Invest in a freight scanner. See if what they carry is worth the plunder, and how many drones they have.
Fighter drones have 1 IRE gun each, and go 400m/s
Fighter drone MK2 have 2 PAC guns, making them VERY deadly. They move 220m/s

And know that they can spit out drones at any moment, and be ready for it. Soon as you see it, run away and check how many there are. They always get confused in astroid fields, so that's a good tactic if you have one nearby

thelastslaith · Post by **thelastslaith** » Sat, 28. Sep 13, 12:50

also if you have the unfocused jumpdrive you could use ur short cut key to quickly escape then go back to the same spot. Either after your sheilds have recharged or wait till the drones die.

Diche Bach · Post by **Diche Bach** » Sat, 28. Sep 13, 13:14

Really quite a good game! Thanks for all the combat tips guys.

Masochisto · Post by **Masochisto** » Sat, 28. Sep 13, 19:33

Fighter drones are a big danger at the beginning of that start because your mamba doesn't start with all of its shielding, and the hepts you start with are not a great weapon to kill them with.

That start used to have 10 waves of pirates that would come after you periodically and attack you, so watch out for that. They may have removed the pirate waves in X3AP, as it seems last time I ran that start they never showed.

Use strafe alot to avoid fire, and continually change strafe vectors slightly to throw off their fire. They have fast weapons, so its not as easy as with capital weapons, but it can still make a big difference.

When you don't have a freight scanner and aren't certain what your up against, save in a station before committing to the attack so you have an out if you end up over your head.

crgray · Post by **crgray** » Sat, 28. Sep 13, 20:14

Drones are easier to deal with in a fast M5 than a well shielded M3. I can easily avoid being hit by them in my Jaguar, and they're sitting ducks to a fast weapon like an IRE.

I'd suggest either trying the jump drive technique, or carry some IREs or PAC's (maybe MDs?) and switching weapons over to take out faster moving targets.

Timsup2nothin · Post by **Timsup2nothin** » Sat, 28. Sep 13, 21:01

crgray wrote:Drones are easier to deal with in a fast M5 than a well shielded M3. I can easily avoid being hit by them in my Jaguar, and they're sitting ducks to a fast weapon like an IRE.

I'd suggest either trying the jump drive technique, or carry some IREs or PAC's (maybe MDs?) and switching weapons over to take out faster moving targets.

My Nova Raider is my primary freighter capping ship. I have four PACs, which is more than enough for shield stripping and doesn't run out my juice. I have two PBGs in case I have to do some heavy lifting. And I have two IREs for drones. No need to switch out weapons on the fly.

Diche Bach · Post by **Diche Bach** » Sun, 29. Sep 13, 00:48

I've noticed that, playing a true Dead is Dead through to some 'end game' milestone (1 Trillion credits or whatever) seems to be quite difficult. I have yet to not die.

Have any of you guys done a true (no cheating!) DiD playthrough to "late game" in X3AP or TC?

Timsup2nothin · Post by **Timsup2nothin** » Sun, 29. Sep 13, 01:22

For me, not dying involves not doing things I think are fun. I can imagine not dying. Get into a capital ship ASAP; combat by remote; no fun.

I like howling around in an M5. I die by splattering a lot.

I like combat that involves dodging more than it involves shielding. I get scorched a lot.

I do a lot of 'fit in' remote trading, meaning I fit it in while flying full speed to somewhere instead of just sitting somewhere pecking through menus. Even in a bigger ship I still die by splattering a lot.

Masochisto · Post by **Masochisto** » Sun, 29. Sep 13, 02:47

I tried DID a few times, even after I knew the game rather well and there are just too many random ways to splatter against something at random, even if your in an M2. I spend most of any game in an M5, if I were serious about a DID goal I would probably rarely undock...

It is not a fun play style to me.

Diche Bach · Post by **Diche Bach** » Sun, 29. Sep 13, 03:38

Interesting replies. I was sort've gravitating in the same direction. It is true of a lot of games where there is a player culture that pursues the DiD ethos, but it seems particularly true of this game.

And yes it is VERY easy to splatter!

I noticed now that I've unlocked 25m and 50m in account I seem to have some more game starts unlocked. One of them is listed as "Dead is Dead." Is that for real? Does it somehow honestly restrict you from reloading old saves, or not let you save without closing out or something?

I gained an appreciate for DiD strangely from playing Civilization and Crown of Glory Emperor's Edition "play by email" matches with other guys. You don't get any chance to 'redo' in a PBEM and it really adds to the 'flavor' of the experience. PVP games are like that too, but the only problem is that griefing is just so ridiculously common in so many good PVP games.

I've not played EVE Online for a year now, even though I had two accounts active and sporadically kept up their training queues. Primary reason is the whole game (and my whole alliance) are primarily motivated by griefer play. Big epic fleet battles between adversaries can be fun, even hunting (and avoiding being hunted) in Wormhole space can be fun as anyone there should damn well know there are no rules. But griefing people in a game just seems pathetic to me.

NUKLEAR-SLUG · Post by **NUKLEAR-SLUG** » Sun, 29. Sep 13, 10:40

Diche Bach wrote:I noticed now that I've unlocked 25m and 50m in account I seem to have some more game starts unlocked. One of them is listed as "Dead is Dead." Is that for real? Does it somehow honestly restrict you from reloading old saves, or not let you save without closing out or something?

Yes. you get a special singleslot DiD savegame and if at any point you die the that's it, the game deletes that savegame.

Back on topic. Mosquito missiles are ideal for handling MKI drones. Dragonfly is best for dealing with MKII's.

Sirrobert · Post by **Sirrobert** » Sun, 29. Sep 13, 11:55

No, there will always come some bullcrap random explosion your way, the autopilot screwing over, or exiting the gate right into some big ship.

I generally don't reload if I make mistakes that cost me, and that's asfar as DiD will ever go for me.

Also I like running headfirst into Ka'ak clusters with a Mamba. Either you die, or you feel awesome. And if you die you just reload and try again

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Killing Drones

Killing Drones