Rename Combat Drones....

Game Discussion Balance
#1

The problem has been around for long time and I no idea why it not been addressed…

 

Engineer Combat drone are just not suitable for well… combat.

 

 

1 explosive, and lets face it explosives are everywhere, and the combat drones are destroyed, you then have long wait for them to respawn, but by then you been hit by another explosive.

 

Combat drones basically just get stuck in a constant respawn loop, and they only of any use when out of combat, even then they only fix upto 50% shield.

 

Only in very rare occassion when your enemies are out missiles are the drones remotely useful.

 

In addition to the above, they attack above 50% shield, and heal below 50% shield is also pretty poor, because it takes seconds for the shield to get below 50% so the drones dont really have chance to fire, drones are generally only useful in PvE scenarios.

 

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Possible idea’s

 

1: Up the health of the drones so they can take at least 1 missile hit, and allow them to regen health if nanocloud is active. a second missile or explosive will still take them out and most prob before they can heal.

 

2: Change the combat behavior to proximity based, rather than shield/health based… eg… if they hostiles near they will attack, if they no hostiles in range they will repair

After all its pointless trying to heal the shield when your still taking damage, coz the damage will be far more than you can heal… least by attacking them you might make them fall back for a brief moment.

#2

Combat Drones are bringing a lot of tools to the Engineer.

 

Damage / Self Regen / Instant Heal (self heal or team-mate).

 

As all the other special modules, Using the Combat Drones need experiences ingame.

Too many players forget that the job of an Engineer is to support its team with Reparation/Sustain/Mobility/Protection.

The drones are already extremly strong due to the fact they can provide 3 of the 4 things mentionned before.

 

Add the fact they can shot ennemy ships under “Camo” (Adaptive Camo from Covert Ops and EM Scattering Field from LRF), they already have enough “Power”.

 

The DPS offered by having 2 drones at the same time is higher than a Pulsar (~1400 dmg/sec with mk4 weapon).

 

Third point : After the Event of Blackwood Shipyard, you don’t want to have an too much evolved Drone System on your ships (Or you want Aliens to be able to use your drones against you).

 

 

To summarize : No. Each module/Special Module have counter. The stronger is the module, the easier is the counter.

#3

 

 

To summarize : No. Each module/Special Module have counter. The stronger is the module, the easier is the counter.

 

 

when you consider each module has a counter, its usually come in the form of certain class being more suitable to taking down the weakness… in case of drones coils launcher and other main weapon explosive are the perfect counter.

 

Problem here lies in fact everyone can counter it with a single click, no special skills require, no special modules… just one missile, which people are going to use anyway to max the dps.

 

And yes i agree Engineers are support, but fact is the drones in a common battle offer almost zero support, coz they never active long enough.

 

The point being if they could survive one missile they have a few seconds of usefulnes before the second missile or explosive weapon kicks in.

 

in there current form you might as well not have combat drone, coz only way to keep them active is to hide and not get shot at ever, and if your doing that your not helping your team at all.

 

 

All there abilities are meaningless when they in constant cooldown, the drones are dead split second fight begins, and most fights are over before the drones respawn.

 

It take over 1 min for them to respawn, but takes 1 second to kill them

#4

I don’t think you realize that drones are probably the most versatile special module in the game. They heal shields like none other, and do serious sustained damage if not taken down. My first priority in an interceptor trying to kill an engineer is to take out the drones - they’re very accurate, do damage in all directions, and can heal half a frigate’s shields (well, maybe not Jericho) in an instant.

 

Drones are extremely useful against people trying to kill you from a range because popping them heals an absolutely obscene amount of shield. Like, seriously. Ridiculous. And they’re also helpful against people trying to kill you up close, due to the damage.The fact that they’re fragile just makes them harder to use, which makes sense, because if they weren’t, they’d be a tad OP.

#5

I don’t think you realize that drones are probably the most versatile special module in the game. They heal shields like none other, and do serious sustained damage if not taken down. My first priority in an interceptor trying to kill an engineer is to take out the drones - they’re very accurate, do damage in all directions, and can heal half a frigate’s shields (well, maybe not Jericho) in an instant.

 

Drones are extremely useful against people trying to kill you from a range because popping them heals an absolutely obscene amount of shield. Like, seriously. Ridiculous. And they’re also helpful against people trying to kill you up close, due to the damage.The fact that they’re fragile just makes them harder to use, which makes sense, because if they weren’t, they’d be a tad OP.

 

 

they nothing verstile about something that is forever in cooldown coz its 1 shot every time they spawn, nothing useful when they perma dead waiting for the next spawn which will be 1 shot away again.

 

 

IF they live then yes they very verstile, but having them alive is the problem.

 

they have less than 200hp, and take over a full min to spawn a new pair, they are the easiest module to nullify. you ony need 1 missile, or even 1 coil mortar shot and they both blow up, then you can wait another min for another pair.

 

When i use coils i always take a shot at engi even if it not my target just for that very reason.

 

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And making them resist 1 inty/fighter missile attack is not going to make them OP… sure a cruise or heavy missile should take them out, coil or other AoE bombardment would still take them out… I not suggesting to make them unkillable.

#6

The problem has been around for long time and I no idea why it not been addressed…

 

Engineer Combat drone are just not suitable for well… combat.

 

 

1 explosive, and lets face it explosives are everywhere, and the combat drones are destroyed, you then have long wait for them to respawn, but by then you been hit by another explosive.

 

Combat drones basically just get stuck in a constant respawn loop, and they only of any use when out of combat, even then they only fix upto 50% shield.

 

Only in very rare occassion when your enemies are out missiles are the drones remotely useful.

 

In addition to the above, they attack above 50% shield, and heal below 50% shield is also pretty poor, because it takes seconds for the shield to get below 50% so the drones dont really have chance to fire, drones are generally only useful in PvE scenarios.

 

.

 

Possible idea’s

 

1: Up the health of the drones so they can take at least 1 missile hit, and allow them to regen health if nanocloud is active. a second missile or explosive will still take them out and most prob before they can heal.

 

2: Change the combat behavior to proximity based, rather than shield/health based… eg… if they hostiles near they will attack, if they no hostiles in range they will repair

After all its pointless trying to heal the shield when your still taking damage, coz the damage will be far more than you can heal… least by attacking them you might make them fall back for a brief moment.

  1. Take one almost dead ECM in stasis. 
  2. Put me in an engineer with two combat drones.
  3. Watch me run to said ECM.
  4. Watch me kill said ECM.
#7

 

  1. Take one almost dead ECM in stasis. 
  2. Put me in an engineer with two combat drones.
  3. Watch me run to said ECM.
  4. Watch me kill said ECM.

 

 

if ECM was smart he put missile on the engineer before he started combat, so enginneer wouldn’t have any drones.

If ECM still in fight 35 seconds later her doing something wrong.

 

even open world pve mobs take out drones at start of combat let alone players with half a brain.

#8

Y’know, engineer is one of my favourite classes. Drones aren’t that fragile. Most weapons don’t kill drones that easily. Typically, when your drones are about to be blown up, you get a significant warning - with the exception of covert ops decloak plasma arc, or being inattentive. Coil mortars are slow as heck. Singularities are slower than heck. Missiles beep like heck. If someone’s aiming at your drones, they can’t be locked on to, and have a small profile, and are thus pretty hard to kill without explosion damage. That’s not to say that drones don’t die easily - they do, absolutely. But it doesn’t make them useless, far from it.

#9

As a full-time Valor pilot I can safely say that you are just a bad engineer.

 

Drones are nowhere near as fragile as you make them out to be. The only reliable way to knock them out is with an aoe weapon like coil mortars, otherwise they typically remain active while under fire.

 

They are also fitted to a second-line ship. If someone is engaging you, that should mean you have allies around you who can tighten the noose and either drive the attacker away or kill him. This further limits your attackers to interceptors, who fear the drones the most.

 

Your angst about the combat drone tells me that you are hopelessly out of position for most of the game. Learn to put yourself in the right place, learn when to advance and, more importantly, learn when to fall back. Do that, and you will find your drones stay alive much longer, and that when you are engaging in close quarters the enemy is either too busy to kill your drones, or gets crippled by them.

 

The combat drone is one of, if not the most powerful Special Module in the game. Underestimate them at your peril.

#10

As a full-time Valor pilot I can safely say that you are just a bad engineer.

 

Drones are nowhere near as fragile as you make them out to be. The only reliable way to knock them out is with an aoe weapon like coil mortars, otherwise they typically remain active while under fire.

 

They are also fitted to a second-line ship. If someone is engaging you, that should mean you have allies around you who can tighten the noose and either drive the attacker away or kill him. This further limits your attackers to interceptors, who fear the drones the most.

 

Your angst about the combat drone tells me that you are hopelessly out of position for most of the game. Learn to put yourself in the right place, learn when to advance and, more importantly, learn when to fall back. Do that, and you will find your drones stay alive much longer, and that when you are engaging in close quarters the enemy is either too busy to kill your drones, or gets crippled by them.

 

The combat drone is one of, if not the most powerful Special Module in the game. Underestimate them at your peril.

 

 

if you claim they not easy to knock out then i must say you must be the bad player, when i don’t play engineer, I fire 1 missile and both drones are gone, they almost never a exception.

 

Usually don’t lock onto engineer till last min, sometimes not at all and dumbfire the missile so he no warning, its then simple to stay in his blind spot and take him out without him having a chance unless he has backup from other players.

 

The drones have less than 200 hp, and the hover very close to ship so even the smallest and weakest AoE take them both out.

 

When I do play engineer, its usually where most of the team is, slight to rear of them using long range weapons from suitable cover.

 

But any smart inty will fly by and drop missile and run to take out drone before the drones can fire.

 

In fact, the only time when either drone has any hope of surviving is if at time of impact both drones are exact opposite sides of ship (which is rare), then you ship has small chance to shield the impact on the second drone.

 

All the drone need is abilty to resist some the weaker explosives, or maybe faster cool down so they not lock in perma respawn state.

 

.

 

 

Any good team will target or least harrass a engineer due to how valuble they are to a team, keeping myself alive is not major prob unless ganged up on, its just the fact unless your against total noobies your drones really are out of action 90% of the match.

 

Sure they give inty something to ‘think’ about, but they not issue to a inty unless the inty don’t missile you for some odd reason.

#11

Y’know, engineer is one of my favourite classes. Drones aren’t that fragile. Most weapons don’t kill drones that easily. Typically, when your drones are about to be blown up, you get a significant warning - with the exception of covert ops decloak plasma arc, or being inattentive. Coil mortars are slow as heck. Singularities are slower than heck. Missiles beep like heck. If someone’s aiming at your drones, they can’t be locked on to, and have a small profile, and are thus pretty hard to kill without explosion damage. That’s not to say that drones don’t die easily - they do, absolutely. But it doesn’t make them useless, far from it.

 

 

see thats the problem every ship pretty much has explosive in some form, hence in 1 second the drones are gone then you got a 1min and 10 seconds to wait for new pair of drones, hence the permant downtime argument.

 

Drones are usefull if nobody attacks you, but what are they shooting and healing if they nobody attacking?

 

it make you want to activate them every time they spawn so they least heal somebody shield.

 

It wouldn’t be so bad if the hovered further from the hull so only larger AoE’s could take them out. but same note would take them outside the engi hitbox making them vunrable to direct attacks.

#12

I’m not sure your arguments are based in reality. Or at least not in any tier above 2.

You are assuming it’s always you on the attack, and always in a 1 vs 1 brawl with an engi. Do you know how many Inty pilots I’ve killed just by letting my allies fly them into my drones, or by powering into an ongoing brawl? I’ve lost count.

So let’s play a realistic battle for a moment shall we?

Combat Recon. My captain is in your sights and wounded. Your mighty Inty is going to kill him off! All you have to do is chase him behind this rock…

Oh, look! A valor with drones! So what do you do? Apparently, you ignore the captain and attack the engineer. So you just wasted a rocket blowing the drones up. Now the captain’s had more time to heal and regroup. You probably just missed out on the kill because you didn’t stay on task.

So let’s say you ignore the Engi and stay on the cap. Those drones peck you down to the EB and then they pop. Captain gets a big whack of shield back and you get a missile to the face.

So let’s make it easy and say the Valor was the captain. You fly in, rocket the combat drones and… Oh, you’re still getting shot by combat drones because there’s a Styx there as well! And both the Styx and Valor have attack drones as well!

But let’s assume that the captain’s a pug and he stays and dogfights you. NOW you’re safe, right? No combat drones now, right? Sorry, but they still show up. While you’re focused on the cap another Engi makes a fly-by and dumps remote heals. You take half a dozen lasers to the backside while fixating on the captain and we’re back to the same old problem of target priority.

That’s getting closer to reality, and how you really use attack drones to dominate the field. A smart Engineer puts themselves somewhere that ensures engaging him is costly, and knows how to maximise drone damage. They are hellspawned weapons against ships that are already engaged or who can’t afford to give up on a wounded target to start on a fresh one.

#13

One day, players will understand that for frigates, It’s always a question of Positionning.

#14

Indeed. This is why I loved my Reaper so much. Built it for speed and just went nuts. It was situational as hell and couldn’t stand up in a brawl, but it was so worth it for the niche where it worked…

Picture a beacon. Recons, CovOps and ECM swarm around it. In the distance an Engineer chugs forward to support, or perhaps a Command.

But then, from the dark side of a nearby asteroid comes a skull-faced assailant. It screams toward the beacon like Captain Harlock is at the helm. Octopus missiles fly, laser beams stitch across ship hulls and a Mk IV pulsar goes off. It banks around the beacon and runs for home, trailing puzzled interceptors who are wondering what the hell just happened. Some give chase, only to find the Reaper is nuzzled up to an Engineer and their combined firepower swats the petulent interceptors from the sky.

And as they die the dread war cry of the pulsar comet pilot rings in their ears…

“Trololololol!”

#15

One day, players will understand that for frigates, It’s always a question of Positionning.

And sometimes positron-ing. Cue cymbal crash.

 

But yeah, it’s all about knowing where to be, and how to get there. The best example is getting in a frigate “dogfight”. Who gets behind who?

#16

Read my newest engine guide. I discuss the tactical advantage of drones and how to use them effectively. Your problem with having them constantly destroyed is likely a result of being exposed and in vulnerable positions. Sure, they will get destroyed periodically, but you should have no trouble keeping a drone with you at most times.

#17

I agree we need stronger drones. Anyone remember back in the day when drones could take out missiles? I want that feature back…

#18

I agree we need stronger drones. Anyone remember back in the day when drones could take out missiles? I want that feature back…

So you want drones to take out missiles, but AMS to not be able to take down guided torps and nukes? Whaaaaaat

#19

AMS can take out nukes? lol

#20

AMS can take out nukes? lol

Yeah. It’s a small portion of the reason why nukes suck.