Who said anything about open only.
Indeed, who did? Wasn't me.
It was suggested many moons ago that pvp orientated PP should exist and be rewarded by a higher % handed in. And single/solo cmdrs a lesser %. This way both parties are placated.
A terrible approach, but that's off topic.
Drones as regards offensive use.
Most murder boats (I have 2) are limited by their armoured power plants output. With a power gobbling fsd interdictor and prismatics, shielded fsd, etc, powers at a premium.
Whereas cargo vessels can have an overcharged power plant and are not so concerned with limited output.
So make the drones internal unit size 1 or 2 a high power hungry module. Thus curtailing its use as a viable offensive weapon.
That just changes the shape of a murderboat build, tbh
Also drones deployed from the rear of a vessel would have a much bigger impact on an attacking vessel that's BEHIND the defender. Whereas drones deployed by an offensive vessel would have flying time to reach the intended target. This "balance" would need to be fine tuned to reflect this.
People already use mines and other rear- deployed weapons to great effect in
offensive attacks. This would just be another tool in that repertoire.
Most PP cargo vessels are either cutters or type 9s 10s or even corvettes. Plenty of scope for another countermeasure.
A murder boat rails or PAs or torps etc have limited scope due to their blinged out hull and shields, & module protection.
A drones module makes sense for a defensive capability. I personally would not wanna give up my limited power (my fdl has x4 short range super pen rails gobbling up huge amounts of power) on my killship.
So, like i said. If drones aren't going to be appealing to a murderboat build, then they won't deter a murderboat when facing them.
Goal of a combat vessel is to destroy, and not be destroyed. If there's no risk of destruction, the murderboat won't be deterred.
I don't think i need to explain how ridiculously powerful these drones would need to be to make a rail/PA boat (which has high armour/shields and high damage) flinch at the thought of engaging a target that likely has comparatively paper- thin shields and armour... we're talking the drones needing to have in- excess of ten times the power[1] of that same murderboat here. That's insane, and would just become the next murderboat meta.
[1] since, presumably if the noncom is kitted up for hauling or whatever, it'll have a fraction of the overall damage soak of a murderboat, while also doing a fraction of the damage compared to the murderboat without these magic drones.
