Forums » Suggestions
Drone Carriers
Well I was thinking that we could have a ship approxamately the size of the ragnarok with lessened weapon capability but can drop a cluster of drones that caneither sit in one spot and wait for the enemy or follow the main ship as a small attack group. The drones would die with one shot. Several types of drones would include repair, assault, shield, and mine.
Mines explode on impact with anything but they remain motionless and do not follow the carrier.
The assault drones will go a certain distance away from the carrier to attack an enemy, but they do little damage though.
The repair drones will repair the ship while remaining motionless and at a slow rate of speed, but can also be used to repair others.
The shield drones purpose is to absorb incoming attacks (mainly missles) by getting in the way. The shield drones activate and automatically will go towards missle fire to stop it before it harms the carrier and for other weapons they will take the hits for.
The flak weapons will be best if used against drones.
Mines explode on impact with anything but they remain motionless and do not follow the carrier.
The assault drones will go a certain distance away from the carrier to attack an enemy, but they do little damage though.
The repair drones will repair the ship while remaining motionless and at a slow rate of speed, but can also be used to repair others.
The shield drones purpose is to absorb incoming attacks (mainly missles) by getting in the way. The shield drones activate and automatically will go towards missle fire to stop it before it harms the carrier and for other weapons they will take the hits for.
The flak weapons will be best if used against drones.
Thats sounds pretty cool, you can do similar things like that in Eve as some ships have drone bays for comabt and mining drones :-)
i like the idea none the less :-)
i like the idea none the less :-)
Sounds like the Homeworld Drone/Hive Fregate.
One problem I could see is lag. Swarm missles were already banned from major wars because in numbers they cause too much lag. A bunch ships with 5 or more drones around them could have the same effect.
One problem I could see is lag. Swarm missles were already banned from major wars because in numbers they cause too much lag. A bunch ships with 5 or more drones around them could have the same effect.
It would be a problem but they would most likely be destroyed once combat started and the fact that carriers would be as manueverable as a Ragnarok and with less armor it does have its disadvantages. Leaving out the mine drones or setting it so that when the player leaves the sector the would help prevent some unwanted tricks (like controlling a Worm hole with mines) and it would prevent lag that could be caused by mines. Also to prevent excess lag the drones could use enrgy from the player and de-activate when there is no energy for them.
Okay this is partially a bump and a slight addition.
I agree to the above post in the fatc that mine drones would pose issues.
I also like the idea of energy requirements since that would be a limiting factor. But I would rather have drones take up cargo space or something so that the player can have a limited amount only.
Various drones would be some combat (2 cargo slots needed) and these feed on the ships energy. Fairly weak weaponry but still useful.
Mining drones: These would simply mine while you are away... There should be some way to check where you placed them and only a certain amount can be out at a time.
Anti-Missle: okay these are meant to deal with missles. These drones get in the way of missles and attract the fired missle towards the drone.
Repair Drones: Okay we all wish we could have some healing out in space... These use energy and require scrap metal to perform repairs.
These ships would obviously be big with a mediocre armor but would have a high cargo capacity. These ships would have 1 weapons slot (maybe 2).
I agree to the above post in the fatc that mine drones would pose issues.
I also like the idea of energy requirements since that would be a limiting factor. But I would rather have drones take up cargo space or something so that the player can have a limited amount only.
Various drones would be some combat (2 cargo slots needed) and these feed on the ships energy. Fairly weak weaponry but still useful.
Mining drones: These would simply mine while you are away... There should be some way to check where you placed them and only a certain amount can be out at a time.
Anti-Missle: okay these are meant to deal with missles. These drones get in the way of missles and attract the fired missle towards the drone.
Repair Drones: Okay we all wish we could have some healing out in space... These use energy and require scrap metal to perform repairs.
These ships would obviously be big with a mediocre armor but would have a high cargo capacity. These ships would have 1 weapons slot (maybe 2).
There's actually a whole section on drones of this type in our original (circa-2001) design document.
Okay I figured I would develop the idea a bit more. This is just an idea for a carrier about the size of the Moth and also the dorne idea was developed a little more.
The ship will caome with drone capacity (thereby limiting the Cargo space making it automatically less than a Moth) and a built in launcher. The ship would need to have decent armor but no more than a Prometheus. The ship would be just as mobile (or clunky) as the Behemoth and would have a 1 small port and 1 large port.
Mini-Drones would proabably be about double the size of a mine. So it wouldnt be effective to have the drone system as a large weapon since it would only hold about 1 drone.
Drones would be limited on the distance that they can travel from the main ship by around 300-500 distance (if they get any farther than this they become in active and need to be retrieve). Also a limited number of drones can be placed at a time as a limiting factor. Another issue is the launcher. If there is more than 1 drone type how would you launch drones of different types? So perhaps it would work easier to have a Drone screen similiar to the Jettison Cargo screen. The player would select the drones and could drop them in the same way cargo is dropped or the screen would allow the player to organize launch order. A delay of 1 second between drone launches could be needed. Also all drones can be called back by using the drone jettison window.
Carrier
Variant Basic
License ?/?/?/?/?
Armor 25000
Cargo 52
Drone Capacity 15
Weapons 1 small port, 1 large port
Mass 30000 kg
Length 35 m
Thrust 500 N
Max Speed 60 m/s
Spin Torque 18.0 Nm
Turbo Speed 170 m/s
Turbo Energy 55/s
Also since drones would die with 1 hit that would mean that the Flechette would be very effective at destroying the carrier.
Well that is it for the updated version of the idea. Eventually we can have larger carrriers but a small version would be nice to.
The ship will caome with drone capacity (thereby limiting the Cargo space making it automatically less than a Moth) and a built in launcher. The ship would need to have decent armor but no more than a Prometheus. The ship would be just as mobile (or clunky) as the Behemoth and would have a 1 small port and 1 large port.
Mini-Drones would proabably be about double the size of a mine. So it wouldnt be effective to have the drone system as a large weapon since it would only hold about 1 drone.
Drones would be limited on the distance that they can travel from the main ship by around 300-500 distance (if they get any farther than this they become in active and need to be retrieve). Also a limited number of drones can be placed at a time as a limiting factor. Another issue is the launcher. If there is more than 1 drone type how would you launch drones of different types? So perhaps it would work easier to have a Drone screen similiar to the Jettison Cargo screen. The player would select the drones and could drop them in the same way cargo is dropped or the screen would allow the player to organize launch order. A delay of 1 second between drone launches could be needed. Also all drones can be called back by using the drone jettison window.
Carrier
Variant Basic
License ?/?/?/?/?
Armor 25000
Cargo 52
Drone Capacity 15
Weapons 1 small port, 1 large port
Mass 30000 kg
Length 35 m
Thrust 500 N
Max Speed 60 m/s
Spin Torque 18.0 Nm
Turbo Speed 170 m/s
Turbo Energy 55/s
Also since drones would die with 1 hit that would mean that the Flechette would be very effective at destroying the carrier.
Well that is it for the updated version of the idea. Eventually we can have larger carrriers but a small version would be nice to.
I like this idea. It'd also make a really neat subsystem for capital ships, which would enable them to have AI defenders without having to use up valuable hangar space with full-sized ships.
bUmP, this would be awesome.
However, if the drones are going to be a ships main defence, you cant have the drones get popped with one shot. Or are you suggesting a huge dronebay or something ? How many drones would you have in space altogether ?
However, if the drones are going to be a ships main defence, you cant have the drones get popped with one shot. Or are you suggesting a huge dronebay or something ? How many drones would you have in space altogether ?
Drones can get popped in 1 hit even as a ship's main defense because they are likely HARD to hit (ever tried shooting a mine?).
"it wouldnt be effective to have the drone system as a large weapon since it would only hold about 1 drone"
I disagree with this. Even at double the size of mines, that would mean a large port could launch 2-5 drones. I also disagree with the idea that a drone carrier would necessarily have to be clunky.
"it wouldnt be effective to have the drone system as a large weapon since it would only hold about 1 drone"
I disagree with this. Even at double the size of mines, that would mean a large port could launch 2-5 drones. I also disagree with the idea that a drone carrier would necessarily have to be clunky.
I say make diffrent classes of drones
Light - 1-2 shots
Medium - 3-4 shots
Heavy - 5-6 shots
Assault - 7-8 shots
Light - 1-2 shots
Medium - 3-4 shots
Heavy - 5-6 shots
Assault - 7-8 shots
No drone should take as many hits as even the lightest [current] pilotable fighter craft.
Light = 1; Medium = 1-2; Heavy = 2-4; Assault = 3-5.
Light = 1; Medium = 1-2; Heavy = 2-4; Assault = 3-5.