Drones: Difference between revisions

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By default your drones are set to behave aggressively, which means they will attack anything hostile to you within their range. In the drone settings window, which you can access from the white triangle at the top left of the drone control window, you can set them to behave passively instead, which will make them simply orbit you until you order them to attack something.

===Drones Orbiting Targets===

Drones have 2 hidden attributes which help determine the range and speed they will attempt to orbit a target. EntityFlyRange and Orbit Velocity are the 2 attributes.

All drones, from logistics and EWar through the fastest 'Augmented' types, will try and orbit at the EntityFlyRange.

: Light Drones will try and orbit at a range of 500 meters.

: Medium Drones will try and orbit at a range of 900 meters.

: Heavy Drones will try and orbit at a range of 1000 meters.

The Orbit Velocity is the non-MWD (MicroWarp Drve) Speed a drone travels at. When in close proximity to a target, it will attempt to use this speed for following and orbiting.

: ''Note that there is a more common value used for ships, max velocity, but this is not the case with Drones. A Drone's max velocity is based upon an installed MWD (MicroWarp Drive) which is integral to the drone but is a module installed on a ship. As such, this is a major difference when determining such things with drones versus ships.''

This ventures into EVE physics and goes beyond the scope of this document but, suffice it to say that a drone will ''attempt'' to orbit at the EntityFlyRange and not its optimal range.

An example of this, from testing:

A Hobgoblin I (Gallente T1 drone) vs a Hobgoblin II

Both have an Entity Fly range of 500.

T1 has an Orbit Velocity of 550 m/s

T2 has an orbit Velocity of 660 m/s

The T1 orbits at 705 meters

The T2 orbits at 724 meters

Whereas a Hammerhead II (Gallente T2 medium drone) with an Orbit Velocity of 480 m/s; ends up at 1096 meters vs the 900 meter attempt.

And a Ogre II (Gallente T2 heavy drone) with an Orbit Velocity of 300 m/s ended up at 1196 meters vs the 1000 meter attempt.

Neither of these 2 attributes (EntityFlyRange nor Orbit Velocity) can be adjusted by player skills nor modules. Only the MicroWarp Drive Max Velocity stat can be adjusted by modules and skills.

There's much more to be said about the use of drones, some of which is covered below, but if you've read the above you should know the basics required to load and deploy drones in Eve.

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 By default your drones are set to behave aggressively, which means they will attack anything hostile to you within their range. In the drone settings window, which you can access from the white triangle at the top left of the drone control window, you can set them to behave passively instead, which will make them simply orbit you until you order them to attack something.
+===Drones Orbiting Targets===
+Drones have 2 hidden attributes which help determine the range and speed they will attempt to orbit a target.  EntityFlyRange and Orbit Velocity are the 2 attributes.
+All drones, from logistics and EWar through the fastest 'Augmented' types, will try and orbit at the EntityFlyRange.
+: Light Drones will try and orbit at a range of 500 meters.
+: Medium Drones will try and orbit at a range of 900 meters.
+: Heavy Drones will try and orbit at a range of 1000 meters.
+The Orbit Velocity is the non-MWD (MicroWarp Drve) Speed a drone travels at.  When in close proximity to a target, it will attempt to use this speed for following and orbiting.
+: ''Note that there is a more common value used for ships, max velocity, but this is not the case with Drones.  A Drone's max velocity is based upon an installed MWD (MicroWarp Drive) which is integral to the drone but is a module installed on a ship.  As such, this is a major difference when determining such things with drones versus ships.''
+This ventures into EVE physics and goes beyond the scope of this document but, suffice it to say that a drone will ''attempt'' to orbit at the EntityFlyRange and not its optimal range.
+An example of this, from testing:
+A Hobgoblin I (Gallente T1 drone) vs a Hobgoblin II
+Both have an Entity Fly range of 500.
+T1 has an Orbit Velocity of 550 m/s
+T2 has an orbit Velocity of 660 m/s
+The T1 orbits at 705 meters
+The T2 orbits at 724 meters
+Whereas a Hammerhead II (Gallente T2 medium drone) with an Orbit Velocity of 480 m/s; ends up at 1096 meters vs the 900 meter attempt.
+And a Ogre II (Gallente T2 heavy drone) with an Orbit Velocity of 300 m/s ended up at 1196 meters vs the 1000 meter attempt.
+Neither of these 2 attributes (EntityFlyRange nor Orbit Velocity) can be adjusted by player skills nor modules.  Only the MicroWarp Drive Max Velocity stat can be adjusted by modules and skills.
 There's much more to be said about the use of drones, some of which is covered below, but if you've read the above you should know the basics required to load and deploy drones in Eve.