Frontier- A Case for Persistant Drones
- Thread starter Frenotx
- Start date
Yeah, because if someone is building an house without a bathroom, the better thing to do is to wait until it's finished and you can try it out, rather than suggesting as soon as possible that a bathroom might be useful...
(I know, this is a bit unfair, but the point remains... And it isn't about if disposable drones are good or bad)
I'd actually like to know the lore behind how these drones are going to function, exactly. One would assume that they need to be manually controlled since artificial intelligence is suppose to be banned in the Elite universe. Doesn't really make sense having them be quite as advanced as the ones in EVE were either, as those were technically being controlled by your mind/pod.
I played Rappelz some time back and that had small animals as pets. Later they had those pets looting for you which was a little bonus, you would kill a mob and your little pet would run off and grab the loot from it. This was handy for ranged attackers or areas where standing around too long got aggro from other nearby mobs that were wandering around. The pets never fought or protected you but people started to gain an attachment to the pets and even paid RL money to have various different colours of them.
That was the point I was going for. With persistent drones, people can form bonds with them (in the same way that people form a bond with their ship), and thus develop a desire to take care of them / trick them out.
I agree. Only time will tell.
This isn't the first time he's tripped over something he's said either, and wound up saying something else entirely later on. We'll just have to wait for the Beta to see how it initially turns out.
I didn't realize this was something I wanted until just now
Yup. Basil the drone, slightly rusty but with an enhanced piloting system and heavy duty grapples. A little slow but he always gets the rocks back to me, even if I've moved on to a new asteroid.
As a thought... what other species do we know with a penchant for deploying drones in certain circumstances?
That's why I made this thread. That intangible feeling of attachment is something that's very easy to overlook when designing a game mechanic. I just want to make sure Frontier has considered it. ARE YOU READING THIS FRONTIER DEVELOPMENTS?
For those curious, this is what I have in mind when I think of persistent drones:
In order to use drones you need to equip a drone bay internal. These have two stats: bay size, and propellent storage. Higher class drone bays have more storage space and propellent. Higher rated ones have more propellent storage than lower rated ones of the same class. You could also set it up such that certain rating bays are more fuel or storage size focused. For instance, maybe the D-rated one has a smaller capacity but more fuel than the others, and the B-rated ones have more capacity than the others, but a comparably lower fuel capacity. The D would be good for a miner (small number of cargo drones being used a lot), and a B would be better for a space-tender sort of role. i.e. Lots of different types of drones (cargo, fuel transfer, remote repair, etc.), but only expecting to use one or two of them at a time.
Once you have a drone bay, you need to buy drones. Different drones take up more or less space. Something like a drone that just picks up cargo would be fairly small. One that just transfers fuel would also be small. A cargo drone that can also transfer fuel would be larger. A cargo drone that can pick up multiple canisters before returning would be bigger than one that can only pick up one. You get the idea. The more capable a drone, the bigger it is.
All drones use propellent. Different drones may use propellent at different rates. In the case of cargo drones, one that is faster or capable of picking up more cans before returning might be less fuel efficient than smaller, 1-can drones. Or perhaps you could have a higher-grade drone that uses less fuel than a lower grade one. In any case, fuel efficiency is something that can be used to balance drones against each other, and give the player meaningful choices. Since you only have so much propellent in your drone bay, you'd have to be smart about when to use your drones / what drones to bring. If you're planning on using your drones a lot (mining), you'd probably want to get ones that are more fuel efficient, even if they're not as fast at collecting cargo. A pirate on the other hand, would probably want a drone that can collect as quickly as possible, in case there's still a fight going on, or if they just want to leave the scene of the crime sooner. If a drone runs out of fuel, it quits moving. You can recover it by scooping it.
Drones would be able to take damage. Too much, and they get destroyed. If they make it back to your ship before being completely destroyed, you could use an AFM to repair them in the field, or repair them at a station like any other module. For the sake of simplicity, they probably don't need target-able subsystems- just a hull integrity.
In order to use drones you need to equip a drone bay internal. These have two stats: bay size, and propellent storage. Higher class drone bays have more storage space and propellent. Higher rated ones have more propellent storage than lower rated ones of the same class. You could also set it up such that certain rating bays are more fuel or storage size focused. For instance, maybe the D-rated one has a smaller capacity but more fuel than the others, and the B-rated ones have more capacity than the others, but a comparably lower fuel capacity. The D would be good for a miner (small number of cargo drones being used a lot), and a B would be better for a space-tender sort of role. i.e. Lots of different types of drones (cargo, fuel transfer, remote repair, etc.), but only expecting to use one or two of them at a time.
Once you have a drone bay, you need to buy drones. Different drones take up more or less space. Something like a drone that just picks up cargo would be fairly small. One that just transfers fuel would also be small. A cargo drone that can also transfer fuel would be larger. A cargo drone that can pick up multiple canisters before returning would be bigger than one that can only pick up one. You get the idea. The more capable a drone, the bigger it is.
All drones use propellent. Different drones may use propellent at different rates. In the case of cargo drones, one that is faster or capable of picking up more cans before returning might be less fuel efficient than smaller, 1-can drones. Or perhaps you could have a higher-grade drone that uses less fuel than a lower grade one. In any case, fuel efficiency is something that can be used to balance drones against each other, and give the player meaningful choices. Since you only have so much propellent in your drone bay, you'd have to be smart about when to use your drones / what drones to bring. If you're planning on using your drones a lot (mining), you'd probably want to get ones that are more fuel efficient, even if they're not as fast at collecting cargo. A pirate on the other hand, would probably want a drone that can collect as quickly as possible, in case there's still a fight going on, or if they just want to leave the scene of the crime sooner. If a drone runs out of fuel, it quits moving. You can recover it by scooping it.
Drones would be able to take damage. Too much, and they get destroyed. If they make it back to your ship before being completely destroyed, you could use an AFM to repair them in the field, or repair them at a station like any other module. For the sake of simplicity, they probably don't need target-able subsystems- just a hull integrity.
Those utility hardpoints are pretty small, though. It would be hard to squeeze a drone that's particularily capable into such a small mount.*
*Except maybe a camera drone
I agree with everything you said.
I would like to see upgradable/customizable/skinnable drones that stay with you.
The way I see this:
You buy a drone controller module of a certain class that can support up to, let's say a maximum of four drones, depending on the class of your controller.
You buy your drones separately. You can upgrade your drones, with shields, extra range, speed, carrying capacity etc. You can choose individual skins for your drones etc.
Drones are not cheap disposables. You want to recover your drones when enemies enter an area, because they are expensive, especially when upgraded. Each Drone you have on your ship occupies one cargo slot. This cargo slot contains a so called 'drone dock'. Even when your drone is destroyed the drone dock stays in that cargo slot and you can buy a new drone for that slot for a slightly lower price then when you have to buy it with a new drone dock. You can sell an empty drone dock at a station if you want to.
Drones can be outfitted for different tasks like scooping, reconnaissance, combat.
You can let drones do certain tasks independently like scooping ore, or cargo containers.
You can also remote control one drone at a time. For example when you explore the wreck of a large spaceship, an area on a planet, caves etc. etc.
Last edited:
If we were going to go down the road of customisable drones, I'd suggest the following: different sized drones have a different number of slots: small has 2, medium has 3, large has 4, etc. Slots can be filled with engines, armour, and functional components (cargo grabber, fuel transfer unit, hatch breaker, etc.). It's required to have at least one engine unit, and at least one function. Outside of that, it's up to the player. Want a drone that can collect a lot of cargo with each trip? Engine, and several cargo modules. Want a hatch breaker that's harder to shoot down? Engine, hatch breaker, and some armour. Want something that can scoop one cargo container super fast? Cargo module, and a bunch of engines. Nice and simple design.
This. Me and my fed navy hammerheads have been to war, at each other's side.
In ED, I'd like persistent drones, and several drone types. I'd do away with the field maintenace unit, have a "drone bay" module, and have repair drones, combat drones, all kinds of functionality could ensue. we could have hot drone on drone pvp action lol..anyway, persistence, I'm all for it.
This. Me and my fed navy hammerheads have been to war, at each other's side.
In ED, I'd like persistent drones, and several drone types. I'd do away with the field maintenace unit, have a "drone bay" module, and have repair drones, combat drones, all kinds of functionality could ensue. we could have hot drone on drone pvp action lol..anyway, persistence, I'm all for it.
Repair drones would be cool, but I'd like the afm to stick around. AFM for repairing modules and drones, repair drones for repairing hull, and / or other ships.
This is really what I dont get and why I think Michael Brooks messed up/tripped up in what he said about Sending a drone out and the cargo/item will replace the slot that the drone took. That implies the one and done for drones. Yes, the other thing he said still fits with that. Use a drone one and done, or do the area loot with the drone. No matter what the drone is done by the time it returns.
Here is what doesnt make sense about that. How is this in any way supposed to help mining? Am I supposed to fill my hold with 200 drones? No, thatd be to expensive and kinda stupid. Okay, So I have 50 drones now, I use 50 of them to scoop everything and then they're done? Still sounds Far-fetched to me. I have 15-20 drones? Okay, with how mining works is that really going to help me? that means for everything implemented with this system the MOST tonnes of ore I can get now is 15-20 (assuming one fragment is 100%) - I strongly believe there is much more to all this and cant wait to see it.
As to your idea Frenotx - Persistent drones could easily be implemented - just have the ammo be fuel/power. Maybe even have "Drone Controller" or whatever able to refill drones a certain amount of times. Idk - either way the one and done with the Cargo taking the spot of the drone just doesnt make sense...hopefully next we can get a more elaborate answer in the newsletter
Here is what doesnt make sense about that. How is this in any way supposed to help mining? Am I supposed to fill my hold with 200 drones? No, thatd be to expensive and kinda stupid. Okay, So I have 50 drones now, I use 50 of them to scoop everything and then they're done? Still sounds Far-fetched to me. I have 15-20 drones? Okay, with how mining works is that really going to help me? that means for everything implemented with this system the MOST tonnes of ore I can get now is 15-20 (assuming one fragment is 100%) - I strongly believe there is much more to all this and cant wait to see it.
As to your idea Frenotx - Persistent drones could easily be implemented - just have the ammo be fuel/power. Maybe even have "Drone Controller" or whatever able to refill drones a certain amount of times. Idk - either way the one and done with the Cargo taking the spot of the drone just doesnt make sense...hopefully next we can get a more elaborate answer in the newsletter
