[X3:AP] Mk2 Fighter Drone glitch?

[Jimmy C]

I was impressed with how the MK2 drones can turn any ship into a mini carrier, for one battle, at least.
But, if I ordered an OOS ship to deploy MK2 drones, those drones will hop back into the ship a few seconds later.
What's going on?

[pjknibbs]

Well, what order did you give the drones? If they were escorting their mothership then they would perforce want to dock back aboard it if there wasn't any immediate enemy threat, and since that process happens instantaneously OOS, you'd get the result you saw. Try it when there are hostiles to kill and you'll get a different result.

[Jimmy C]

I had just ordered the drones ejected and they were running on their default "protect ship" order. I hadn't even managed to order them to do anything before they hopped back into the ship.
I'll try again with hostiles when the opportunity presents itself.

[ajax34i]

Drones usually "hop back into the ship" at the end of their command cycle if the ship can dock M5-M3 fighters. So, TM, M7, M1, the M6 Hyperion Vanguard, basically any carrier type ship, will re-dock its drones automatically.

Try whatever you're doing with a TS transport or M6 corvette other than the Hyperion, see if it still happens. Ships that do not have fighter bays typically can't re-dock their drones, and the drones should just follow the ship until they disappear when their batteries run out.

[Jimmy C]

I tried things out. It turns out that, even if the ship that ejected the drone is a carrier, the drone won't immediately redock if all the ship's docking ports are occupied. If a port is cleared, then the drone goes right back into the ship. After completing its command, I assume.