I like my small ships, but I guess this would work for any ship.
It’s an idea kind of bases on limpets, in the way the module grade and size affect number of limpets and how long they last but for attack drones (yeah I’m sure the idea has come up before)
The basic idea is a module that can launch 1 to 3 drones at a time (size 1,3,5) that have a really basic weapon load out. One small pulse, not nothing like rails and plasmas or mines. So you can see they aren’t goanna do much vs larger ships, still, 3 of them (a class 5) is not to be sniffed at, for extra DPS.
It would be important to limit this sort of module type to 1 per ship, else we see and anacondas with 3 class 5… and things start to get messy, especially for AI
Some examples would be
Eagle Mk ii : have a class 1 drone, so one class one hard-point flying around. Bit of cannon fodder at best. But now the eagle has 4 hard-points of attack, and one of them almost acting like a 360*3 degree turret (But it automated, players don’t control drone, they just attack target).
Hauler: Put a class 3 in there, now you have 2 drones, 2 extra hard-point (for a total of 3). You have given up that cargo space to turn the hauler into a war machine!
Type-6: if you’re willing to give up that class 5 slot, now you can launch 3 drones… 5 small hard-point are your disposal. It may not be a PvP ship, but now it can hold its own in PvE but the Keelback…. Give that a class 5 along with a fighter, and now it’s something special.
And how to balance out then new fire power?
Apart from you have to pick which modules you use.. Giving up cargo space for drones… or giving up that reinforcement. They could act like missiles and a EMC wave = instant boom!
You could stifle the player by making it use limpets (DON’T), but I would like to see a new model, more along the line of a skimmer… and It would be best that the modules have their inbuilt reloads, like a fighter bay… and can be reloaded via materials. Else why bother having it at all? Small ship could not take advantage, and big ship are not goanna give up a class 5 shield cell for hard point for 3 standard hard points of damage (no experimental on drones), that could be taken out with EMC or maybe even point defences
It’s an idea kind of bases on limpets, in the way the module grade and size affect number of limpets and how long they last but for attack drones (yeah I’m sure the idea has come up before)
The basic idea is a module that can launch 1 to 3 drones at a time (size 1,3,5) that have a really basic weapon load out. One small pulse, not nothing like rails and plasmas or mines. So you can see they aren’t goanna do much vs larger ships, still, 3 of them (a class 5) is not to be sniffed at, for extra DPS.
It would be important to limit this sort of module type to 1 per ship, else we see and anacondas with 3 class 5… and things start to get messy, especially for AI
Some examples would be
Eagle Mk ii : have a class 1 drone, so one class one hard-point flying around. Bit of cannon fodder at best. But now the eagle has 4 hard-points of attack, and one of them almost acting like a 360*3 degree turret (But it automated, players don’t control drone, they just attack target).
Hauler: Put a class 3 in there, now you have 2 drones, 2 extra hard-point (for a total of 3). You have given up that cargo space to turn the hauler into a war machine!
Type-6: if you’re willing to give up that class 5 slot, now you can launch 3 drones… 5 small hard-point are your disposal. It may not be a PvP ship, but now it can hold its own in PvE but the Keelback…. Give that a class 5 along with a fighter, and now it’s something special.
And how to balance out then new fire power?
Apart from you have to pick which modules you use.. Giving up cargo space for drones… or giving up that reinforcement. They could act like missiles and a EMC wave = instant boom!
You could stifle the player by making it use limpets (DON’T), but I would like to see a new model, more along the line of a skimmer… and It would be best that the modules have their inbuilt reloads, like a fighter bay… and can be reloaded via materials. Else why bother having it at all? Small ship could not take advantage, and big ship are not goanna give up a class 5 shield cell for hard point for 3 standard hard points of damage (no experimental on drones), that could be taken out with EMC or maybe even point defences
after-all they already go after missiles and hatchbrakers