Advanced Drones Applications and Strategies

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Advanced Drones: Applications & Strategies

Other topics, such as Using Drones, note the limited capability of combat utility drones and ECM drones. This is true for many of the combat situations that we encounter in Eve University. However, there are a number of scenarios where these drones make the difference in the success or failure of an operation. This page exists to highlight these scenarios.

Drone Overview

An excellent listing of the types of drones available and their capabilities is provided at Electronic warfare drones and Combat utility drones.

Fleet Composition

As discussed below, many of these advanced drones are applied temporarily. For example, in all cases where webs are being applied, once additional tackle ships are in range, webing drones are no longer needed. Drone ships, such as the Vexor and Myrmidon that have large drone capacities, can deploy the specialized drones to gain a tactical advantage, and then deploy combat drones to bring addition damage to play once the target is brought under control. In small gangs, the FC will likely need a dual roll ship to apply these drones effectively. In larger fleets, smaller ships, like the Algos, can stay at range and allow the bulk of the fleet to focus on the primary target.

Also, unlike modules, drones can be deployed against multiple targets (e.g. three ECM drones can be applied against one Guardian and two against another). Even if they are not a superior force, they can be sufficiently annoying to force an opposing fleet to use less than optimal tactics (e.g. bring an addition Guardian into the fleet to support the battle, possibly replacing a DPS ship).

The primary question the FC must answer is "do I have the capacity to bring in a dedicated support ship, such as a Blackbird for ECM". If so, then the dedicated support ship will always be a superior choice. But, if the FC is forced to forgo the support ship to have sufficient DPS to be effective, these drones can provide significant capability.

Another point to consider is that many ships (especially frigates) have limited drone capacity and bandwidth (see Drone_Capable_Ships). By themselves, these drones are of limited utility in any capacity. However, five frigates each carrying a single drone can provide a full flight of drones to a capable drone bunny. This can be a way to convert an otherwise "excess capability" into a useful force without sacrificing anything. It does, however, require significant forethought on the part of the fleet. While Eve Uni FC's would welcome the ability to do this "pre-fleet" planning, since most of our fleets are ad-hoc fleets, organizing to utilize these capabilities is usually not possible.

Fleet Behavior

In order to be successful, pilots in drone based and drone augmented fleets need to follow a specific ritual when engaging. This ritual is well learned by Incursion pilots as it can save a very expensive fleet. The ritual is:

• Warp in
• Start to lock a target (so friendly logi can lock you)
• While waiting for the lock to land
  • deploy drones
  • assist them to the drone bunny
• Start shooting

The goal is to have the drones assigned to the drone bunny so that they are available when the drone bunny's lock lands. While this usually applies to DPS drones, the same ritual is required in order to deploy advanced drones effectively.

Another behavior to be practiced is learning not to recall drones when switching from advanced drones to DPS drones. Instead, the advanced drones must be abandoned. The DPS drones can be well on their way to the target in the time it takes the advanced drones to return. The drones can be recovered after the fight.

Scenarios

Gate Camps

Null Sec gate camps often include Interdictors (Eris, Flycatcher, Heretic, Sabre) to provide temporary bubbles, as once they are up, no ship within the bubble can warp away. They are effective without having to target a ship, and they are short lived (2 minutes versus the Mobile Warp Disruptor's 30 day life span). In order to keep the target ship from warping off, it has to be kept in the bubble. This is more difficult than it sounds as the Interdiction Bubbles stay were they are launched. The Interdictor can launch more bubbles, but it has a limited supply and a long reload time.

In a gate camp, the target ship can easily be 20km away from any other ship. Until the target ship breaks its gate cloak, no one knows where the target is, and no one is able to web it until they can lock it and get in range. Web modules work over a very limited range, usually less than 10km without boosts. This does not allow much time to lock the ship, burn to it and apply webs to slow it down before it can burn out of the bubble.

Drones, however, have a working range from 20km with minimal skills to 60km with maximum skills. While the pilot still has to lock the target and the drones still have to fly to it, this time can often be shorter than the time required to burn out to the target.

Kiting Takedowns

This situation is similar to the gate camp. The biggest problem with fighting kiting fleets is getting close enough to a target to provide an effective warp-in for the rest of the fleet. Given the long range of drones, if combat utility drones can be applied early, they can slow the target ship just enough to allow tackle to get close enough to provide an effective warp-in early in the engagement.

Freeing up a Midslot

Many FC's prefer a shield tanked fleet to provide speed. But doing this in a PvP fleet can be difficult when you have less than 4 slots (1 for the MWD, 1 for a point or scram, 1 for a web, the rest for tank). If the ship has reasonable DPS without drones, then drones can replace the web. True, this web is not as effective as a module, but as discussed above, its greater operating range can tip the scales toward victory.

Breaking Logi

Logi and other support ships, such as ECM ships, are notoriously difficult to attack because the can sit well off the attacking fleet. ECM drones can either break there locks, or force them in closer. The first scenariio reduces their effectiveness and, in cases where Guardians and other shared capacitor ships are used, render them useless. The second scenario forces them closer to the attacking fleet which makes them easier to attack.

To examine the effectiveness of drones in this role, examine the following quoted from How does ECM work:

  "And if you use multiple jammers:

  Chance to Jam = (1 -(1 - Your ECM Strength / Target's Sensor Strength ) ^ The number of jammers of this strength)*100%"

The Vespa EC-600 drone has a strength of 1.5. The Guardian has a RADAR sensor strength of 19. If we apply three Vespa EC-600 drones to a Guardian, the chance to break its locks (as a percentage) is:

  (1 - (1 - (1.5/19)) ^ 3) * 100

  (1 - (1 - (0.07)) ^ 3) * 100

  (1 - (0.93) ^ 3) * 100

  (1 - 0.8) * 100

or about 20%. This is not going to render the Guardian useless, but it will make it less effective.

Sensor Dampening drones are not highly effective as they suffer stacking penalties. In order to be useful, three Ogre SD-900's would need to be applied to reduce the sensor range by about 40% (see Stacking Penalties. However, Ogres are the slowest of all the heavy drones, with a speed of 1000m/s (see Drones), which means they will not land on their target quickly. This time can be up to 60 seconds depending the pilot's drone skills and the range to the target.

Logi for Tackle

As shown in Logistics Drones, a full flight of five medium logistics drones can repair 120 DPS. This won't keep a tackle ship alive forever, but when taking down a single ship of T1 cruiser size or below, this can extend the tackle's life by 20% or more (assuming the DPS ship produces 600 DPS or less). For example, a Tristan can be armor fit to provide 5K EHP. Against a Thorax or Vexor with up to 600DPS, the Tristan may survive 10 seconds. Extending that time to 12 seconds with armor logi drones may just provide the additional lock time a larger, more capable ship needs to become effective on the field. If these drones are applied by dual role ship, it is unlikely that the fleet will be giving up DPS during the time the drones are supporting the tackle ship. To be most effective in the role, the dual role ship will need to have the tackle ship locked and the drones applied before the tackle engages.