Difference between revisions of "User:Noemie belacqua/Sandbox6"

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You cannot control how a drone fights and flies directly; you can only issue commands like "attack that target", in which case the drone will fly to the target you have selected, and start firing on it once it's within weapons range, all without further input from you. You can give commands to each of your drones individually, or to all of your drones at once. The [[Using Drones]] page goes into more details on the different commands you can give to your drones.  
 
You cannot control how a drone fights and flies directly; you can only issue commands like "attack that target", in which case the drone will fly to the target you have selected, and start firing on it once it's within weapons range, all without further input from you. You can give commands to each of your drones individually, or to all of your drones at once. The [[Using Drones]] page goes into more details on the different commands you can give to your drones.  
  
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If damaged, a drone's shields will slowly regenerate on their own, but damage to its armor and hull needs to be repaired (either by using the repair services at a station, or a remote repair module on your ship). The weapons on drones have effectively infinite ammunition and don't need to reload.  
+
If damaged, a drone's shields will slowly regenerate on their own, but damage to its armor and hull needs to be repaired (either by using the repair services at a station, or a remote repair module on your ship). Drones have built-in weapons with effectively infinite ammunition, and don't need to reload.  
  
 
===Bandwidth===
 
===Bandwidth===
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* {{sk|Advanced Drone Avionics|mult=yes}}: Increases drone control range by 3km per skill level.
 
* {{sk|Advanced Drone Avionics|mult=yes}}: Increases drone control range by 3km per skill level.
 
* '''Drone Link Augmentor''' module: A high-slot module, increases drone control range by 20km (24km for the Tech 2 module)
 
* '''Drone Link Augmentor''' module: A high-slot module, increases drone control range by 20km (24km for the Tech 2 module)
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* '''Drone Control Range Augmentor''' rig: Increases drone control range by 15km (20km for the Tech 2 module)
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* '''Drone Control Range Augmentor''' rig: Increases drone control range by 15km (20km for the Tech 2 rig)
  
 
===Drone navigation===
 
===Drone navigation===
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* Most effective against battleships and battlecruisers, but can also hit smaller targets if they are far enough away
 
* Most effective against battleships and battlecruisers, but can also hit smaller targets if they are far enough away
  
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Each race has their its own light, medium, heavy, and sentry drones, and they each do primarily one [[NPC Damage Types|damage type]] (for instance, all Amarr drones do EM damage).  
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Each race has their its own light, medium, heavy, and sentry drones, and they each primarily do one [[NPC Damage Types|damage type]] (marked in the table below as "primary damage" - for instance, all Amarr drones do EM damage).  
  
 
{| class=wikitable style="font-size:90%;text-align:center;"
 
{| class=wikitable style="font-size:90%;text-align:center;"
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| colspan=7 style="background-color:#222222; text-align:left;font-size:95%;line-height:130%;font-weight:normal;" | All combat drones do the primary damage type. 'Integrated' and 'Augmented' drones also do the secondary damage type.  
 
| colspan=7 style="background-color:#222222; text-align:left;font-size:95%;line-height:130%;font-weight:normal;" | All combat drones do the primary damage type. 'Integrated' and 'Augmented' drones also do the secondary damage type.  
 
|}
 
|}
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Each drone type has its own skill ({{sk|Light Drone Operation|icon=yes}}, {{sk|Medium Drone Operation|icon=yes}}, {{sk|Heavy Drone Operation|icon=yes}}, {{sk|Sentry Drone Interfacing|icon=yes}}), which is needed to operate the respective type.
  
 
=== Faction comparison ===
 
=== Faction comparison ===
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* Amarr and Caldari drones fall between Gallente and Minmatar drones in terms of damage and speed (Caldari drones do a little less damage than Gallente drones, but are a bit faster; Amarr drones do a little more damage than Minmatar drones, but are a bit slower). Additionally, these drones orbit a little further away from their targets, making them apply their damage more consistently, and are a little tougher (+25% more hit points, compared with Minmatar and Gallente drones).  
 
* Amarr and Caldari drones fall between Gallente and Minmatar drones in terms of damage and speed (Caldari drones do a little less damage than Gallente drones, but are a bit faster; Amarr drones do a little more damage than Minmatar drones, but are a bit slower). Additionally, these drones orbit a little further away from their targets, making them apply their damage more consistently, and are a little tougher (+25% more hit points, compared with Minmatar and Gallente drones).  
  
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Therefore, the four race's drones represent a sliding scale between damage and speed:
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Therefore, the four race's drones represent a sliding scale between damage and speed (the percentages in the table below are relative to the worst-performing drone family):
  
 
{| class=wikitable style="font-size:90%;text-align:left;"
 
{| class=wikitable style="font-size:90%;text-align:left;"
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==== Sentry drones ====
 
==== Sentry drones ====
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* Caldari drones have the longest range (150% more than Gallente drones), but with the lowest tracking and damage.
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* Caldari drones have the longest range (about 150% more than Gallente drones), but with the lowest tracking and damage.
 
* Gallente drones do the most damage (21% more than Caldari drones) and have the best tracking (200% better than Caldari drones), but have the shortest range.  
 
* Gallente drones do the most damage (21% more than Caldari drones) and have the best tracking (200% better than Caldari drones), but have the shortest range.  
 
* Amarr and Minmatar drones fall between Caldari and Gallente drones in terms of damage and range (Minmatar drones do a little more damage with better tracking than Caldari drones, but have less range; Amarr drones have slightly more range than Gallente drones, but worse tracking and damage).   
 
* Amarr and Minmatar drones fall between Caldari and Gallente drones in terms of damage and range (Minmatar drones do a little more damage with better tracking than Caldari drones, but have less range; Amarr drones have slightly more range than Gallente drones, but worse tracking and damage).   
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Sentry drones also have Tech 2 and Faction variants (but no 'Integrated' or 'Augmented' drones):
 
Sentry drones also have Tech 2 and Faction variants (but no 'Integrated' or 'Augmented' drones):
 
* '''{{co|wheat|Tech 2}}''' sentry drones have better range, tracking, and hit points (compared with their Tech 1 counterparts), but need additional skills to use.  
 
* '''{{co|wheat|Tech 2}}''' sentry drones have better range, tracking, and hit points (compared with their Tech 1 counterparts), but need additional skills to use.  
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* '''{{co|wheat|Faction}}''' sentry drones have (compared to their Tech 2 counterparts) the same range, slightly lower damage, but many more hit points. They don't require additional skills to use (beyond those required for the Tech 1 drones), and are available from LP stores.
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* '''{{co|wheat|Faction}}''' sentry drones have (compared to their Tech 2 counterparts) the same range, but many more hit points. They don't require additional skills to use (beyond those required for the Tech 1 drones), and are available from LP stores.
  
 
Note that, for sentry drones, the Tech 2 and Faction variants do not have higher damage than their Tech 1 counterparts (although the damage of Tech 2 drones can be further increased by training the racial drone specialization skills).  
 
Note that, for sentry drones, the Tech 2 and Faction variants do not have higher damage than their Tech 1 counterparts (although the damage of Tech 2 drones can be further increased by training the racial drone specialization skills).  
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Fighters are frigate-sized drones that do cruiser-sized damage and can only be fielded by [[Capital_Ship#Carriers|carriers]] and [[Capital_Ship#Supercarriers|supercarriers]]. They are capable of warping, and will pursue a target into warp - the only escape from fighters is to jump system or to dock<ref>[http://wiki.eveonline.com/wiki/Item_Database:Drones:Combat_Drones:Fighters Fighters, EveOnline Wiki]</ref>. They need the same amount of bandwidth as heavy drones (25 Mbit/s), but compared to them, fighters are a little faster, do a little more damage, and are much tougher.  
 
Fighters are frigate-sized drones that do cruiser-sized damage and can only be fielded by [[Capital_Ship#Carriers|carriers]] and [[Capital_Ship#Supercarriers|supercarriers]]. They are capable of warping, and will pursue a target into warp - the only escape from fighters is to jump system or to dock<ref>[http://wiki.eveonline.com/wiki/Item_Database:Drones:Combat_Drones:Fighters Fighters, EveOnline Wiki]</ref>. They need the same amount of bandwidth as heavy drones (25 Mbit/s), but compared to them, fighters are a little faster, do a little more damage, and are much tougher.  
  
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Each race has each its own fighter, and their damage is split between the race's primary and secondary damage types, but otherwise they are very similar to each other. There are only Tech 1 fighters (no Tech 2 or Faction variants).  
+
Each race has each its own fighter, and their damage is split between the race's primary and secondary damage types, but otherwise they are very similar to each other. There are only Tech 1 fighters (no Tech 2 or Faction variants). In order to use fighters you need to train {{sk|Fighters|icon=yes}} (which also improves the damage of your fighters).  
  
 
<!-- The following table displays the differences between the four fighter drones<ref>[http://eve.chantal13.com/drones/ Melindra's Universe Drone Information]</ref>:
 
<!-- The following table displays the differences between the four fighter drones<ref>[http://eve.chantal13.com/drones/ Melindra's Universe Drone Information]</ref>:
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Fighter-bombers are anti-capital-ship drones, and can only be used by supercarriers. They launch torpedoes (which are integrated into the fighter-bombers; you do not need to carry ammunition for them!) which do tremendous DPS to very large targets, and can be very dangerous to slow battleships. However, they pose little threat to smaller ships, because their torpedoes have very slow explosion velocities and very large explosion radii. Just like fighters, they can also enter warp.  
 
Fighter-bombers are anti-capital-ship drones, and can only be used by supercarriers. They launch torpedoes (which are integrated into the fighter-bombers; you do not need to carry ammunition for them!) which do tremendous DPS to very large targets, and can be very dangerous to slow battleships. However, they pose little threat to smaller ships, because their torpedoes have very slow explosion velocities and very large explosion radii. Just like fighters, they can also enter warp.  
  
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Each race has its own fighter-bomber drone, but aside from the different damage types, they are very similar to each other. Additionally, there is a [[Sansha's Nation|Sansha]] faction fighter-bomber (the Shadow), which does slightly more damage than the Tech 1 fighter-bombers, but is ludicrously expensive.  
+
Each race has its own fighter-bomber drone, but aside from the different damage types, they are very similar to each other. Additionally, there is a [[Sansha's Nation|Sansha]] faction fighter-bomber (the Shadow), which does slightly more damage than the Tech 1 fighter-bombers, but is ludicrously expensive. Fighter-bombers need the {{sk|Fighter Bombers|icon=yes}} skill (which also increases their damage).  
  
 
A Tech 1 fighter-bomber costs about as much as a battlecruiser.  
 
A Tech 1 fighter-bomber costs about as much as a battlecruiser.  
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EWAR drones have the same bandwidth and drone bay space requirements as their combat drone counterparts, but tend to be more fragile.  
 
EWAR drones have the same bandwidth and drone bay space requirements as their combat drone counterparts, but tend to be more fragile.  
  
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<!-- A brief note which skills are needed? -->
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In order to use EW drones you need to train {{sk|Advanced Drone Avionics|icon=yes}}. Additionally, each class of EW drones needs training in its EWAR skill (e.g. tracking disruption drones need the tracking disruptor skill {{sk|Weapon Disruption|icon=yes}}).
  
 
=== Tracking disruption ===
 
=== Tracking disruption ===
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Tracking disruption drones cannot be scripted (i.e. they will always reduce both an enemy's tracking speed and their turret range). For comparison, a Tracking Disruptor I module has a -15.3% reduction in enemy tracking and range (and can be scripted to -30.6% in either one or the other). This can be increased to -19.1% with all skills at level V, and -26.3% when flying a dedicated EWAR ship (e.g. an [[Arbitrator]]).  
 
Tracking disruption drones cannot be scripted (i.e. they will always reduce both an enemy's tracking speed and their turret range). For comparison, a Tracking Disruptor I module has a -15.3% reduction in enemy tracking and range (and can be scripted to -30.6% in either one or the other). This can be increased to -19.1% with all skills at level V, and -26.3% when flying a dedicated EWAR ship (e.g. an [[Arbitrator]]).  
 +
 +
Tracking disruption drones need {{sk|Weapon Disruption|III|icon=yes}}.
  
 
=== Electronic countermeasures ===
 
=== Electronic countermeasures ===
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ECM drones act like multispectral jammers (i.e. they have the same jam strength against all four sensor types). For comparison, the Multispectral Jammer I module has a jam strength of 2, which can be increased to 2.5 with all skills at level V, and over 4 when flying a dedicated EWAR ship (e.g. a [[Blackbird]]).  
 
ECM drones act like multispectral jammers (i.e. they have the same jam strength against all four sensor types). For comparison, the Multispectral Jammer I module has a jam strength of 2, which can be increased to 2.5 with all skills at level V, and over 4 when flying a dedicated EWAR ship (e.g. a [[Blackbird]]).  
 +
 +
ECM drones need {{sk|Electronic Warfare|III|icon=yes}}.
  
 
=== Sensor dampening ===
 
=== Sensor dampening ===
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Sensor dampening drones cannot be scripted (i.e. they will always reduce both an enemy's targeting range and their scan resolution). For comparison, a Remote Sensor Dampener I module has a -13.7% reduction in enemy targeting range and scan resolution (and can be scripted to -27.4% in either one or the other). This can be increased to -34.2% with all skills at level V, and -47.1% when flying a dedicated EWAR ship (e.g. a [[Celestis]]).  
 
Sensor dampening drones cannot be scripted (i.e. they will always reduce both an enemy's targeting range and their scan resolution). For comparison, a Remote Sensor Dampener I module has a -13.7% reduction in enemy targeting range and scan resolution (and can be scripted to -27.4% in either one or the other). This can be increased to -34.2% with all skills at level V, and -47.1% when flying a dedicated EWAR ship (e.g. a [[Celestis]]).  
 +
 +
Sensor dampening drones need {{sk|Sensor Linking|III|icon=yes}}.
  
 
=== Target painting ===
 
=== Target painting ===
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For comparison, a Target Painter I module increases the enemy's signature radius by 20%. This can be increased to 25% with all skills at level V, and 34.3% when flying a dedicated EWAR ship (e.g. a [[Bellicose]]).
 
For comparison, a Target Painter I module increases the enemy's signature radius by 20%. This can be increased to 25% with all skills at level V, and 34.3% when flying a dedicated EWAR ship (e.g. a [[Bellicose]]).
 +
 +
Target painting drones need {{sk|Target Painting|III|icon=yes}}.
  
 
== Combat utility drones ==
 
== Combat utility drones ==
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These drones drain a fixed amount of energy from the target ship's capacitor (working in a similar manner to energy neutralizers, also called "neuts"), and are not stacking-penalized. They come in three sizes, are based on Amarr combat drones, and operate on a 6-second cycle (like small neuts). For comparison, the Tech 1 small, medium and large Energy Neutralizer modules neutralize 45 GJ, 75 GJ, and 125 GJ every 6 seconds<ref>The medium and large neuts operate on 12 and 24-second cycles, respectively, but this way of presenting the numbers makes comparisons easier.</ref>, respectively.
 
These drones drain a fixed amount of energy from the target ship's capacitor (working in a similar manner to energy neutralizers, also called "neuts"), and are not stacking-penalized. They come in three sizes, are based on Amarr combat drones, and operate on a 6-second cycle (like small neuts). For comparison, the Tech 1 small, medium and large Energy Neutralizer modules neutralize 45 GJ, 75 GJ, and 125 GJ every 6 seconds<ref>The medium and large neuts operate on 12 and 24-second cycles, respectively, but this way of presenting the numbers makes comparisons easier.</ref>, respectively.
 +
 +
Just like EW drones, these drones need {{sk|Advanced Drone Avionics|icon=yes}} and the EW skill {{sk|Capacitor Emission Systems|III|icon=yes}}.
  
 
===Stasis webification (SW)===
 
===Stasis webification (SW)===
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These drones work much like Stasis Webifier modules ("webs"), slowing the sub-light speed of the target, making them easier to hit and damage. They are stacking-penalized with other SW drones or with normal web modules. For comparison, a Stasis Webifier I module reduces the target's speed by 50%.  
 
These drones work much like Stasis Webifier modules ("webs"), slowing the sub-light speed of the target, making them easier to hit and damage. They are stacking-penalized with other SW drones or with normal web modules. For comparison, a Stasis Webifier I module reduces the target's speed by 50%.  
 +
 +
To use these drones, train {{sk|Drone Navigation|icon=yes}} and {{sk|Propulsion Jamming|III|icon=yes}} (which is also needed for stasis webifier modules). 
  
 
== Logistics drones ==
 
== Logistics drones ==
 
These drones repair their targets. Unfortunately, a pilot is not able to target him/herself, therefore making it impossible for a pilot to use their own logistics drones in order to repair themselves. There are Tech 1 and Tech 2 drones, in three sizes (light, medium and heavy, each based on the respective combat drone), which repair either shield, armor or hull damage. The Tech 2 drones repair 20% more damage, but need higher skill levels to use.  
 
These drones repair their targets. Unfortunately, a pilot is not able to target him/herself, therefore making it impossible for a pilot to use their own logistics drones in order to repair themselves. There are Tech 1 and Tech 2 drones, in three sizes (light, medium and heavy, each based on the respective combat drone), which repair either shield, armor or hull damage. The Tech 2 drones repair 20% more damage, but need higher skill levels to use.  
  
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The hull repair drones are half as effective as the shield and armor counterparts.  
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The hull repair drones are half as effective as the shield and armor counterparts. All logistics drones need {{sk|Repair Drone Operation|icon=yes}} as well as the skills for remote repair modules ({{sk|Shield Emission Systems|icon=yes}}, {{sk|Remote Armor Repair Systems|icon=yes}}, and {{sk|Remote Hull Repair Systems|icon=yes}}, respectively).  
  
 
{| class=wikitable style="font-size:90%;text-align:center;"
 
{| class=wikitable style="font-size:90%;text-align:center;"
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== Salvage drones ==
 
== Salvage drones ==
 
{{see also|Guide To Salvaging}}
 
{{see also|Guide To Salvaging}}
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Salvage drones work like Salvager modules, and extract salvage from the wrecks of destroyed ships. The Salvage Drone I (the only model) needs 5 m<sup>3</sup> of drone bay space and 5 Mbit/s of bandwidth (like a light combat drone). It has a lower chance to salvage wrecks than the salvager modules (3% base access difficulty, compared with 5% and 7% for the Tech 1 and Tech 2 modules, respectively). This can be increased by training {{sk|Salvage Drone Operation|icon=yes}}, allowing them to salvage any wreck in EVE except for advanced [[Sleeper]] wrecks. Their chance to salvage cannot be improved by other skills, or by modules, rigs or implants.  
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Salvage drones work like Salvager modules, and extract salvage from the wrecks of destroyed ships. The Salvage Drone I (the only model) needs 5 m<sup>3</sup> of drone bay space and 5 Mbit/s of bandwidth (like a light combat drone). It has a lower chance to salvage wrecks than the salvager modules (3% base access difficulty, compared with 5% and 7% for the Tech 1 and Tech 2 modules, respectively). This can be increased by training {{sk|Salvage Drone Operation|icon=yes}}, allowing them to salvage any wreck in EVE except for advanced [[Sleeper]] wrecks. Their chance to salvage cannot be improved by other skills, or by modules, rigs or implants. Just like for salvager modules, salvage drones do not loot wrecks; if a wreck containing loot is salvaged, the loot is left in a container in space.  
  
 
Salvage drones can automatically salvage any nearby (up to edge of the player's drone control range) wrecks, as long as they belong to the player or their fleet/corporation. Additionally, they can be specifically ordered to salvage wrecks belonging to other players (marked in yellow on the [[overview]]), although this must be done manually for each wreck. When a drone successfully salvages a wreck, it will return to your ship to drop off the salvage (into your ship's cargo bay) before immediately heading back out into space. Salvage drones are very slow (about 10% slower than the slowest heavy drone), so salvaging more distant wrecks may take some time.  
 
Salvage drones can automatically salvage any nearby (up to edge of the player's drone control range) wrecks, as long as they belong to the player or their fleet/corporation. Additionally, they can be specifically ordered to salvage wrecks belonging to other players (marked in yellow on the [[overview]]), although this must be done manually for each wreck. When a drone successfully salvages a wreck, it will return to your ship to drop off the salvage (into your ship's cargo bay) before immediately heading back out into space. Salvage drones are very slow (about 10% slower than the slowest heavy drone), so salvaging more distant wrecks may take some time.  
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== Skills ==
 
== Skills ==
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You don't need skills to load drones into your drone bay, you only need them to launch drones.
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:''See also: [[Skills:Drones|Drone skills list]]''
 +
=== Basic ===
 +
* {{sk|Drones|mult=yes|price=yes}}: Allows you to operate 1 drone per level (up to 5 at level V). This is the foundation skill of any drone pilot, should be trained to at least level III as a top priority, and to level V soon after.
 +
 
 +
=== Combat drones ===
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These skills allow you to use light, medium, heavy, and sentry combat drones, respectively. Level V is needed for Tech 2 and 'Augmented' drones; all others only need level I. Additionally, these skills increase the damage of their respective drone group by 5% per level. Note that you don't need any skills to load drones into your drone bay; you only need the skills to launch and control them.
 +
* {{sk|Light Drone Operation|mult=yes|price=yes}}. Requires {{sk|Drones|III}}.
 +
* {{sk|Medium Drone Operation|mult=yes|price=yes}}. Requires {{sk|Drones|III}}.
 +
* {{sk|Heavy Drone Operation|mult=yes|price=yes}}. Requires {{sk|Drones|V}}.
 +
* {{sk|Sentry Drone Interfacing|mult=yes|price=yes}}. Requires {{sk|Drones|V}}, {{sk|Drone Sharpshooting|IV}}, and {{sk|Drone Interfacing|IV}}.
 +
 
 +
=== Improved drone performance ===
 +
These are the "drone support skills", which improve the performance of your drones. Nearly every skill requires {{sk|Drones|icon=yes}} to level IV or V.
 +
* {{sk|Drone Interfacing|mult=yes|price=yes}}: Increases your drones' damage (and mining yield for mining drones) by 10% per level. Train this to level IV quickly to make your drones much more effective (level IV is the equivalent of having two extra drones in space); the long train to level V is worth it if you're specializing in drones, or as a prerequisite for capital ship drones.
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* {{sk|Drone Durability|mult=yes|price=yes}}: Increases the shield, armor, and structure hit points (HP) of your drones by 5% per level. Useful to make (particularly your more expensive) drones live longer, but is not a high-priority skill.
 +
* {{sk|Drone Avionics|mult=yes|price=yes}}: Increases your drone control range by 5km per skill level, and allows you to use Drone Link Augmentor modules (which increase your drone control range even further). Training this skill is vital for sentry drone users, and moderately useful for other combat drones.
 +
* {{sk|Advanced Drone Avionics|mult=yes|price=yes}}: In addition to unlocking EW drones (see below), this skill also increases your drone control range by 3km per skill level.
 +
* {{sk|Drone Sharpshooting|mult=yes|price=yes}}: Increases your drones' optimal range (but not their falloff) by 5% per level, and allows you to use Omnidirectional Tracking Link and Omnidirectional Tracking Enhancer modules (which boost drone optimal range and tracking). This skill is vital for sentry drones, but less important for other drones.
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* {{sk|Drone Navigation|mult=yes|price=yes}}: Increases your drone's microwarpdrive speed by 5% per level, and allows you to use Drone Navigation Computer modules (which increase it even further). This skill is very important for users of heavy drones (and of no small benefit to light and medium drones).
 +
 
 +
=== Racial drone specialization ===
 +
These skills are requires to use each faction's Tech 2 and 'Augmented' drones. Additionally, they increase the damage of these drones (but not other drone types) by 2% per level. These skillbooks come from LP stores and therefore vary in price; they require {{sk|Drones|V|icon=yes}}.
 +
* {{sk|Amarr Drone Specialization|mult=yes|price=yes}}
 +
* {{sk|Caldari Drone Specialization|mult=yes|price=yes}}
 +
* {{sk|Gallente Drone Specialization|mult=yes|price=yes}}
 +
* {{sk|Minmatar Drone Specialization|mult=yes|price=yes}}
 +
 
 +
=== Support drones ===
 +
These skills unlock the electronic warfare (EW), combat utility, logistics, and mining drones.
 +
* {{sk|Mining Drone Operation|mult=yes|price=yes}}: Unlocks mining drones and increases their yield by 5% per level.
 +
* {{sk|Repair Drone Operation|mult=yes|price=yes}}: Unlocks logistics drones and increases their repair amount by 5% per level. Requires {{sk|Drones|V}}.
 +
* {{sk|Salvage Drone Operation|mult=yes|price=yes}}: Unlocks the salvage drone and increases its chance to salvage by 2% per level. Requires {{sk|Drones|IV}}.
 +
* {{sk|Advanced Drone Avionics|mult=yes|price=yes}}: Unlocks EW and energy neutralisation drones. Also increases your drone control range (see above), and requires {{sk|Drones|V}}.
  
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Drone Support Skills
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=== Capital ===
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Drone Interfacing - the best support skill ever, it increases drone damage and mining yield by 10% per level. It's by far the most effective drone support skill; every other level in it is like having another drone. Before the Kronos expansion, it provided a 20% bonus per level, making every level the equivalent of a new drone. It replaced a previous skill that actually gave you one extra drone in space per level, but this had some major lag issues in big fights, so it was changed to an equivalent bonus to drone damage. If you only ever train one drone support skill, make it Drone Interfacing.
+
These skills are necessary for capital ship pilots who want to use drones; they all require {{sk|Drone Interfacing|V|icon=yes}}.
−
Drone Durability - makes your drones tougher and harder to kill. Useful if you find your drones dying quite a lot.
+
* {{sk|Advanced Drone Interfacing|mult=yes|price=yes}}: Allows you to fit one Drone Control Unit module per skill level (up to 5 at level V). Each DCU (which can only be used on capital ships) allows you to control an additional drone.  
−
Drone Navigation - makes your drones faster when they are using their microwarpdrive. It doesn't affect non-MWD speed, so it doesn't affect how much damage your drones too. (Teachers note in case people ask: it used to have a bug that made your drones do less damage, but this has now been fixed.) Useful to get your drones places faster.
+
* {{sk|Fighters|mult=yes|price=yes}}: Unlocks fighter drones, and increases their damage by 20% per skill level.  
−
Drone Sharpshooting - increases the range at which your drones can shoot effectively. Great for Sentry Drones, still useful to allow your drones to get into range faster.
+
* {{sk|Fighter Bombers|mult=yes|price=yes}}: Unlocks fighter-bomber drones, and increases their damage by 20% per skill level. Requires {{sk|Fighters|V}}.  
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Drone Avionics - it unlocks one of the drone modules (the Drone Link Augmentor module), and it also gives you a bigger drone control range for all drones. We'll cover drone control range in a minute.
 
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Advanced Drone Avionics - it unlocks EWAR drones, but possibly more importantly, and it also gives you a bigger drone control range for all drones.
 
−
Light/Medium/Heavy/Sentry Drone Operations/Interfacing - increases the damage of their drone type.
 
−
<Racial> Drone Specialization - as well as unlocking the relevant T2 drones, it also increases the damage done by those T2 drones.
 
  
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== Modules & rigs ==
+
== Modules and rigs ==
 
Drone Modules
 
Drone Modules
 
Drone Damage Amplifier - a low-slot module introduced with the Inferno expansion, it simply increases the damage your drones deal. Fitting more than one will suffer from stacking penalties, just like other low-slot damage modules. Very effective in specialised drone ships.
 
Drone Damage Amplifier - a low-slot module introduced with the Inferno expansion, it simply increases the damage your drones deal. Fitting more than one will suffer from stacking penalties, just like other low-slot damage modules. Very effective in specialised drone ships.

Revision as of 11:33, 8 September 2014

Drones

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This article explains what drones are and how they work. For a more detailed discussion of PvP and PvE tactics with drones, see the Using Drones page.

Drones are semi-autonomous vehicles launched from larger spacecraft, designed to augment the launching ship's capabilities. All four races use drones (to a greater or lesser degree), so every combat pilot is likely to use them sooner or later.

While for most ships drones are used to support their main weapons, there are some ships which use drones as their primary way of dealing damage. In addition to dealing damage, there are drones for more specialized uses, such as mining, electronic warfare, and logistics.

Drone basics

Drone bay

A ship must have a drone bay to use drones. You can find out if a ship has a drone bay, and how big it is, by looking at the Attributes tab in its Show Info window - if it has a drone bay, it will tell you the drone bay's capacity in cubic meters (m3). The size of a ship's drone bay determines how many drones you can carry with you, ready to be launched into space; larger and more powerful drones take up more space in your drone bay.

The Tristan has a 40 m3 drone bay, which means it can carry up to eight light drones (which take up 5 m3 each), or four medium drones (10 m3 each), or a combination of the two (e.g. two medium and four light drones).

Only drones can be carried in a ship's drone bay; it cannot be used to carry other cargo. While you can, of course, carry drones in your cargo bay (just like any other kind of cargo), you cannot use them if they are not in the drone bay. You can only move drones in or out of your drone bay while docked at a station, or by using the fitting service provided by a mobile depot. The size of your ship's drone bay is usually fixed (with a few exceptions, such as the Ishkur, whose drone bay size depends on your skills), and cannot be enlarged using modules.

Launching and controlling drones

Main article: Using Drones

If you undock with drones in your drone bay, you will see a new window for controlling drones appear on your screen. Through this window you can launch drones from your drone bay, give commands to them once they are in space (for instance, to attack a target, orbit your ship, or mine an asteroid), and recover them (bring them back into your drone bay). This window also shows you if any of the drones you currently have in space are damaged.

You cannot control how a drone fights and flies directly; you can only issue commands like "attack that target", in which case the drone will fly to the target you have selected, and start firing on it once it's within weapons range, all without further input from you. You can give commands to each of your drones individually, or to all of your drones at once. The Using Drones page goes into more details on the different commands you can give to your drones.

If damaged, a drone's shields will slowly regenerate on their own, but damage to its armor and hull needs to be repaired (either by using the repair services at a station, or a remote repair module on your ship). Drones have built-in weapons with effectively infinite ammunition, and don't need to reload.

Bandwidth

The other important ship attribute is its "bandwidth" (which you can also check in the Attributes tab of your ship's Show Info window), which represents your ship's ability to control your drones, and is measured in Mbit/sec. Bigger and more powerful drones require more bandwidth, and you can only deploy (ie use in space) as many drones as you have available bandwidth on your ship. Many ships (particularly dedicated drone ships) can carry many more drones in their drone bay than they can deploy at once; this allows you to selectively deploy different types of drones to best match your enemies, or to replace drones which are destroyed in combat.

However, irrespective of your ship's bandwidth, you can only only have as many drones in space at once as you have levels in the Drones skill (up to 5 drones at level V). The only exceptions to this limit are carriers and supercarriers (both capital ships) and the very rare Guardian-Vexor cruiser, but in every other case you can only ever have at most five drones in space at once.

The Tristan has a 40 m3 drone bay, allowing it to carry up to eight light drones. Its bandwidth is 25 Mbit/s, so that it can deploy, at most, five of those light drones in space at once (they need 5 Mbit/s each), but only if the pilot has trained the Drones skill to level V. If it's carrying a mixture of light and medium drones, it could deploy up to two medium (10 Mbit/s each) and one light drone at once, assuming the pilot has trained Drones III.

With the exception of fighters and fighter bombers (which are only used by capital ships), a drone's bandwidth requirements (in Mbit/sec) is always the same number as its volume (in m3). Your ship's bandwidth is fixed, and is not affected by skills or modules.

Drone control range

You can only command a drone to attack/repair/mine a target if that target is within a certain range of your ship; this range is known as the "drone control range". By default, your control range is 20km, which means that you can only order a drone to attack an enemy ship if it's within 20km of your ship. This range can be extended by training skills or installing modules and rigs on your ship:

  • Drone Avionics (1x): Increases drone control range by 5km per skill level.
  • Advanced Drone Avionics (5x): Increases drone control range by 3km per skill level.
  • Drone Link Augmentor module: A high-slot module, increases drone control range by 20km (24km for the Tech 2 module)
  • Drone Control Range Augmentor rig: Increases drone control range by 15km (20km for the Tech 2 rig)

Drone navigation

All drones (except the stationary sentry drones) have a built-in microwarp drive (MWD), allowing them to travel quickly to engage a target. Once they arrive near their targets, they shut down their MWD, orbit the target, and fire their weapons. This means that, unlike for the other weapons systems in EVE (lasers, projectiles, hybrids, and missiles), drones first have to travel to the target, and then stay within range of it in order to apply their damage. In practice, this means that drones will have difficulty against faster, more agile targets, as even though they may be able to catch them thanks to their MWD, they may not be able to stay within weapons range for long (at their non-MWD speed). Larger drones (medium and heavy drones) in particular are almost useless against fast frigates for this reason.

There are skills and modules to improve your drone's MWD speed, but you cannot improve your drone's non-MWD speed.

Drone type overview

Drones are capable of serving many different roles and exist in many different sizes. There are seventeen different groups of drones, which can be divided into five categories:

Combat drones
These are the most common drones, and are (as the name suggests) used to damage and destroy enemy ships. There are six different types of combat drone:
  • Light, medium, and heavy drones, intended for use on frigate, cruiser, and battleship-sized ships, respectively
  • Sentry drones, which act as stationary, long-range turrets
  • Fighter and fighter-bomber drones, which are very large drones used by capital ships (carriers and supercarriers)
Electronic warfare and combat utility drones
These drones impair an enemy ship using electronic warfare or similar methods. There are drones for each of the four methods of electronic warfare: tracking disruption (TD), electronic countermeasures (ECM), sensor dampening (SD), and target painting (TP). Additionally, there are drones which drain an enemy's capacitor (energy neutralisers), or reduce a ship's speed (stasis webifiers).
Logistics drones
These drones assist friendly ships by repairing their shields, armor, or hull.
Salvage drones
These drones are used to salvage nearby wrecks.
Mining drone
These drones mine asteroids to produce ore.

Subcapital combat drones

Light drones:

  • Use 5m3 space and 5Mbit/sec bandwidth
  • Move and track targets very fast
  • Are the best drones to use against frigates and destroyers

Medium drones:

  • Use 10m3 space and 10Mbit/sec bandwidth
  • Move and track moderately fast
  • Are the best drones to use against cruisers, and are also good against battlecruisers

Heavy drones:

  • Use 25m3 space and 25Mbit/sec bandwidth
  • Move and track slowly, but do lots of damage
  • Are good against battleships, and can handle battlecruisers

Sentry drones:

  • Use 25m3 space and 25Mbit/sec bandwidth
  • Cannot move in space
  • Can hit targets at long ranges, but have poor tracking, and so will have difficulty against close or fast targets
  • Most effective against battleships and battlecruisers, but can also hit smaller targets if they are far enough away

Each race has their its own light, medium, heavy, and sentry drones, and they each primarily do one damage type (marked in the table below as "primary damage" - for instance, all Amarr drones do EM damage).

Race Light Medium Heavy Sentry Damage
Primary Secondary
Amarr Acolyte Infiltrator Praetor Curator EM damage Thermal damage
Caldari Hornet Vespa Wasp Warden Kinetic damage Thermal damage
Gallente Hobgoblin Hammerhead Ogre Garde Thermal damage Kinetic damage
Minmatar Warrior Valkyrie Berserker Bouncer Explosive damage Kinetic damage
All combat drones do the primary damage type. 'Integrated' and 'Augmented' drones also do the secondary damage type.

Each drone type has its own skill (Icon skillbook2.png Light Drone Operation, Icon skillbook2.png Medium Drone Operation, Icon skillbook2.png Heavy Drone Operation, Icon skillbook2.png Sentry Drone Interfacing), which is needed to operate the respective type.

Faction comparison

Within a drone class (e.g. medium drones), each faction's drones have strengths and weaknesses compared to the other factions'.

Light, medium and heavy drones

  • Minmatar drones are the fastest drones (50% faster than Gallente drones), and so excel at chasing fast ships. However, they do the lowest damage.
  • Gallente drones do the most damage (23% more than Minmatar drones), but are the slowest.
  • Amarr and Caldari drones fall between Gallente and Minmatar drones in terms of damage and speed (Caldari drones do a little less damage than Gallente drones, but are a bit faster; Amarr drones do a little more damage than Minmatar drones, but are a bit slower). Additionally, these drones orbit a little further away from their targets, making them apply their damage more consistently, and are a little tougher (+25% more hit points, compared with Minmatar and Gallente drones).

Therefore, the four race's drones represent a sliding scale between damage and speed (the percentages in the table below are relative to the worst-performing drone family):

Race Damage Speed
Minmatar +50%
Amarr +8% +37%
Caldari +15% +13%
Gallente +23%
  • Table: Damage (incl type), MWD speed, orbiting speed. With all three drone types (L/M/H).

Sentry drones

  • Caldari drones have the longest range (about 150% more than Gallente drones), but with the lowest tracking and damage.
  • Gallente drones do the most damage (21% more than Caldari drones) and have the best tracking (200% better than Caldari drones), but have the shortest range.
  • Amarr and Minmatar drones fall between Caldari and Gallente drones in terms of damage and range (Minmatar drones do a little more damage with better tracking than Caldari drones, but have less range; Amarr drones have slightly more range than Gallente drones, but worse tracking and damage).

Therefore, the four race's drones represent a sliding scale between damage and range (with short-ranged drones having better tracking). Note that, in the table below, range is given as "first falloff" (i.e. the optimal range plus 1 falloff); Amarr and Minmatar drones both have the same optimal range, but the Minmatar drones have a much longer falloff range.

Race Damage Range Tracking
Caldari +143%
Minmatar +7% +115% +60%
Amarr +14% +29% +130%
Gallente +21% +200%
  • Table: Damage (incl type), range, tracking

Drone variants

In addition to the basic Tech 1 drones, there are four other variants of drone within each race's light/medium/heavy drone lineup:

  • A Tech 2 drone, which is more powerful (better speed, damage, and hit points) than its Tech 1 counterpart, but requires additional skills to use.
  • A Faction drone, available from LP stores. They don't require additional skills to use (beyond those required for the Tech 1 drones). They have a very large number of hit points, but slightly lower damage than their Tech 2 counterparts.
  • 'Integrated' and 'Augmented' drones, which can be thought of as enhanced Tech 1 drone and Tech 2 drones, respectively. These drones are produced from the components found in NPC rogue drone wrecks. They need the same skills to use as Tech 1 and Tech 2 drones, respectively, but have slightly improved stats. The damage they do is split between the race's primary and secondary damage types (unlike all other types of subcapital combat drones, which deal only the race's primary damage type). However, they are fairly rare and therefore very expensive.

Sentry drones also have Tech 2 and Faction variants (but no 'Integrated' or 'Augmented' drones):

  • Tech 2 sentry drones have better range, tracking, and hit points (compared with their Tech 1 counterparts), but need additional skills to use.
  • Faction sentry drones have (compared to their Tech 2 counterparts) the same range, but many more hit points. They don't require additional skills to use (beyond those required for the Tech 1 drones), and are available from LP stores.

Note that, for sentry drones, the Tech 2 and Faction variants do not have higher damage than their Tech 1 counterparts (although the damage of Tech 2 drones can be further increased by training the racial drone specialization skills).

  • Big table of +%, with skills

L/M/H

  • Integrated need <size> Drone Operation I. +10% speed, +15% dps, +10% EHP
  • Faction need <size> Drone Operation I. +20% speed, dps, +100% EHP.
  • T2 are improved by Racial Drone Specialization skills (+2% dmg per skill level). +20% speed, dps, EHP. More dps (+10%) than faction, but lower EHP.
  • Augmented need <size> Drone Operation V and <race> Drone Specialization. +32% speed, +32% dps, +80% EHP. Fastest and more dps, second-highest EHP.

Sentry

  • T2: +20% optimal, falloff, tracking, EHP. DPS as T1, but increased by Drone Specialization skills.
  • Faction: +20% optimal, falloff, +26% tracking, +140% EHP. DPS as T1.

Capital combat drones

Fighters

Fighters are frigate-sized drones that do cruiser-sized damage and can only be fielded by carriers and supercarriers. They are capable of warping, and will pursue a target into warp - the only escape from fighters is to jump system or to dock[1]. They need the same amount of bandwidth as heavy drones (25 Mbit/s), but compared to them, fighters are a little faster, do a little more damage, and are much tougher.

Each race has each its own fighter, and their damage is split between the race's primary and secondary damage types, but otherwise they are very similar to each other. There are only Tech 1 fighters (no Tech 2 or Faction variants). In order to use fighters you need to train Icon skillbook2.png Fighters (which also improves the damage of your fighters).


Fighter-bombers

Fighter-bombers are anti-capital-ship drones, and can only be used by supercarriers. They launch torpedoes (which are integrated into the fighter-bombers; you do not need to carry ammunition for them!) which do tremendous DPS to very large targets, and can be very dangerous to slow battleships. However, they pose little threat to smaller ships, because their torpedoes have very slow explosion velocities and very large explosion radii. Just like fighters, they can also enter warp.

Each race has its own fighter-bomber drone, but aside from the different damage types, they are very similar to each other. Additionally, there is a Sansha faction fighter-bomber (the Shadow), which does slightly more damage than the Tech 1 fighter-bombers, but is ludicrously expensive. Fighter-bombers need the Icon skillbook2.png [[Skills:Fighter Bombers]] skill (which also increases their damage).

A Tech 1 fighter-bomber costs about as much as a battlecruiser.

Race Fighter Fighter-bomber Damage
Primary Secondary
Amarr Templar Malleus EM damage Thermal damage
Caldari Dragonfly Mantis Kinetic damage Thermal damage
Gallente Firbolg Cyclops Thermal damage Kinetic damage
Minmatar Einherji Tyrfing Explosive damage Kinetic damage
Fighters do both damage types, while fighter-bombers only do the primary damage type.

Table of capital drones, with stats and req skills.

Electronic warfare drones

See also: EWAR Guide

Electronic warfare (EW) drones apply electronic warfare (EWAR) to their target. Each race's drones apply their racial type of EWAR:

  • Amarr EW drones apply tracking disruption (TD)
  • Caldari EW drones apply electronic countermeasures (EC)
  • Gallente EW drones apply sensor dampening (SD)
  • Minmatar EW drones apply target painting (TP)

Each race has three EW drones, based on their light, medium and heavy combat drones. The type of EWAR is indicated by a two-letter abbreviation in the drone's name, while the size is indicated by the numbers 300 (small), 600 (medium) and 900 (large). So, for example, the small sensor dampening drone is called a Hobgoblin SD-300 (based on the Hobgoblin light drone), while the medium tracking disruption drone is called a Valkyrie TD-600 (based on the Valkyrie medium drone).

Unlike module-based EWAR, the strength of their EWAR is not affected by ship bonuses, skills, rigs, or modules. Also, the EWAR effects for TD, SD and TP are stacking-penalized with other EWAR drones and module-based EWAR, so, starting from the the third or fourth EWAR source, additional drones will have very little additional effect. ECM drones (like ECM modules) are not stacking-penalized.

EWAR drones have the same bandwidth and drone bay space requirements as their combat drone counterparts, but tend to be more fragile.

In order to use EW drones you need to train Icon skillbook2.png Advanced Drone Avionics. Additionally, each class of EW drones needs training in its EWAR skill (e.g. tracking disruption drones need the tracking disruptor skill Icon skillbook2.png Weapon Disruption).

Tracking disruption

Drone Tracking Range
Acolyte TD-300 -5% -5%
Infiltrator TD-600 -12% -12%
Praetor TD-900 -25% -25%

Tracking disruption drones cannot be scripted (i.e. they will always reduce both an enemy's tracking speed and their turret range). For comparison, a Tracking Disruptor I module has a -15.3% reduction in enemy tracking and range (and can be scripted to -30.6% in either one or the other). This can be increased to -19.1% with all skills at level V, and -26.3% when flying a dedicated EWAR ship (e.g. an Arbitrator).

Tracking disruption drones need Icon skillbook2.png Weapon Disruption III.

Electronic countermeasures

Drone Jam strength
Hornet EC-300 1
Vespa EC-600 1.5
Wasp EC-900 2

ECM drones act like multispectral jammers (i.e. they have the same jam strength against all four sensor types). For comparison, the Multispectral Jammer I module has a jam strength of 2, which can be increased to 2.5 with all skills at level V, and over 4 when flying a dedicated EWAR ship (e.g. a Blackbird).

ECM drones need Icon skillbook2.png Electronic Warfare III.

Sensor dampening

Drone Targeting range Scan resolution
Hobgoblin SD-300 -8% -8%
Hammerhead SD-600 -12% -12%
Ogre SD-900 -25% -25%

Sensor dampening drones cannot be scripted (i.e. they will always reduce both an enemy's targeting range and their scan resolution). For comparison, a Remote Sensor Dampener I module has a -13.7% reduction in enemy targeting range and scan resolution (and can be scripted to -27.4% in either one or the other). This can be increased to -34.2% with all skills at level V, and -47.1% when flying a dedicated EWAR ship (e.g. a Celestis).

Sensor dampening drones need Icon skillbook2.png Sensor Linking III.

Target painting

Drone Signature radius
Warrior TP-300 +4%
Valkyrie TP-600 +8%
Berserker TP-900 +20%

For comparison, a Target Painter I module increases the enemy's signature radius by 20%. This can be increased to 25% with all skills at level V, and 34.3% when flying a dedicated EWAR ship (e.g. a Bellicose).

Target painting drones need Icon skillbook2.png Target Painting III.

Combat utility drones

Similar to EW drones, these perform auxiliary tasks in combat. Just like EW drones, ship bonuses, skill bonuses, rigs, or modules do not increase the amount of capacitor neutralized or the speed reduction.

Energy neutralisation (EV)

See also: Capacitor Warfare Guide
Drone Capacitor neutralized
Acolyte EV-300 5 GJ
Infiltrator EV-600 10 GJ
Praetor EV-900 25 GJ

These drones drain a fixed amount of energy from the target ship's capacitor (working in a similar manner to energy neutralizers, also called "neuts"), and are not stacking-penalized. They come in three sizes, are based on Amarr combat drones, and operate on a 6-second cycle (like small neuts). For comparison, the Tech 1 small, medium and large Energy Neutralizer modules neutralize 45 GJ, 75 GJ, and 125 GJ every 6 seconds[2], respectively.

Just like EW drones, these drones need Icon skillbook2.png Advanced Drone Avionics and the EW skill Icon skillbook2.png Capacitor Emission Systems III.

Stasis webification (SW)

Drone Speed
Warrior SW-300 -5%
Valkyrie SW-600 -10%
Berserker SW-900 -20%

These drones work much like Stasis Webifier modules ("webs"), slowing the sub-light speed of the target, making them easier to hit and damage. They are stacking-penalized with other SW drones or with normal web modules. For comparison, a Stasis Webifier I module reduces the target's speed by 50%.

To use these drones, train Icon skillbook2.png Drone Navigation and Icon skillbook2.png Propulsion Jamming III (which is also needed for stasis webifier modules).

Logistics drones

These drones repair their targets. Unfortunately, a pilot is not able to target him/herself, therefore making it impossible for a pilot to use their own logistics drones in order to repair themselves. There are Tech 1 and Tech 2 drones, in three sizes (light, medium and heavy, each based on the respective combat drone), which repair either shield, armor or hull damage. The Tech 2 drones repair 20% more damage, but need higher skill levels to use.

The hull repair drones are half as effective as the shield and armor counterparts. All logistics drones need Icon skillbook2.png Repair Drone Operation as well as the skills for remote repair modules (Icon skillbook2.png Shield Emission Systems, Icon skillbook2.png Remote Armor Repair Systems, and Icon skillbook2.png Remote Hull Repair Systems, respectively).

Drone Shield repair
Light Shield Maintenance Bot I 12 HP
Medium Shield Maintenance Bot I 24 HP
Heavy Shield Maintenance Bot I 60 HP
Drone Armor repair
Light Armor Maintenance Bot I 12 HP
Medium Armor Maintenance Bot I 24 HP
Heavy Armor Maintenance Bot I 60 HP
Drone Hull repair
Light Hull Maintenance Bot I 6 HP
Medium Hull Maintenance Bot I 12 HP
Heavy Hull Maintenance Bot I 30 HP

For comparison, the small, medium and large remote shield and armor repair modules repair 80 HP, 160 HP, and 320 HP every 5 seconds, respectively.

Salvage drones

See also: Guide To Salvaging

Salvage drones work like Salvager modules, and extract salvage from the wrecks of destroyed ships. The Salvage Drone I (the only model) needs 5 m3 of drone bay space and 5 Mbit/s of bandwidth (like a light combat drone). It has a lower chance to salvage wrecks than the salvager modules (3% base access difficulty, compared with 5% and 7% for the Tech 1 and Tech 2 modules, respectively). This can be increased by training Icon skillbook2.png Salvage Drone Operation, allowing them to salvage any wreck in EVE except for advanced Sleeper wrecks. Their chance to salvage cannot be improved by other skills, or by modules, rigs or implants. Just like for salvager modules, salvage drones do not loot wrecks; if a wreck containing loot is salvaged, the loot is left in a container in space.

Salvage drones can automatically salvage any nearby (up to edge of the player's drone control range) wrecks, as long as they belong to the player or their fleet/corporation. Additionally, they can be specifically ordered to salvage wrecks belonging to other players (marked in yellow on the overview), although this must be done manually for each wreck. When a drone successfully salvages a wreck, it will return to your ship to drop off the salvage (into your ship's cargo bay) before immediately heading back out into space. Salvage drones are very slow (about 10% slower than the slowest heavy drone), so salvaging more distant wrecks may take some time.

Mining drones

See also: Ore Ship Guide: Mining Drones

As their name suggests, these drones mine ore from asteroids. There are four mining drone models:

Drone Volume/Bandwidth Ore yield Speed
Civilian Mining Drone 5 13 300 m/s
Mining Drone I 5 20 400 m/s
Mining Drone II 5 33 500 m/s
Harvester Mining Drone 10 40 250 m/s

Mining drones will mine the targeted asteroid for one cycle (60 seconds), then return to your ship, drop off the mined ore (into your cargo bay or ore hold), and fly back to the asteroid to continue mining. Since these drones are fairly slow (about half as fast as heavy combat drones), it's important to keep your ship as close as possible to the asteroid they are mining, to avoid losing too much time in transit. Training Icon skillbook2.png Mining Drone Operation and Icon skillbook2.png Drone Interfacing improves their mining yield, and training Icon skillbook2.png Drone Navigation increases their speed.

For comparison, a Miner I mining module can mine 40 m3/min of ore. There are no mining drones for ice or gas mining.

Skills

See also: Drone skills list

Basic

  • Drones (1x, 30k ISK): Allows you to operate 1 drone per level (up to 5 at level V). This is the foundation skill of any drone pilot, should be trained to at least level III as a top priority, and to level V soon after.

Combat drones

These skills allow you to use light, medium, heavy, and sentry combat drones, respectively. Level V is needed for Tech 2 and 'Augmented' drones; all others only need level I. Additionally, these skills increase the damage of their respective drone group by 5% per level. Note that you don't need any skills to load drones into your drone bay; you only need the skills to launch and control them.

Improved drone performance

These are the "drone support skills", which improve the performance of your drones. Nearly every skill requires Icon skillbook2.png Drones to level IV or V.

  • Drone Interfacing (5x, 750k ISK): Increases your drones' damage (and mining yield for mining drones) by 10% per level. Train this to level IV quickly to make your drones much more effective (level IV is the equivalent of having two extra drones in space); the long train to level V is worth it if you're specializing in drones, or as a prerequisite for capital ship drones.
  • Drone Durability (5x, 100k ISK): Increases the shield, armor, and structure hit points (HP) of your drones by 5% per level. Useful to make (particularly your more expensive) drones live longer, but is not a high-priority skill.
  • Drone Avionics (1x, 60k ISK): Increases your drone control range by 5km per skill level, and allows you to use Drone Link Augmentor modules (which increase your drone control range even further). Training this skill is vital for sentry drone users, and moderately useful for other combat drones.
  • Advanced Drone Avionics (5x, 600k ISK): In addition to unlocking EW drones (see below), this skill also increases your drone control range by 3km per skill level.
  • Drone Sharpshooting (1x, 150k ISK): Increases your drones' optimal range (but not their falloff) by 5% per level, and allows you to use Omnidirectional Tracking Link and Omnidirectional Tracking Enhancer modules (which boost drone optimal range and tracking). This skill is vital for sentry drones, but less important for other drones.
  • Drone Navigation (1x, 100k ISK): Increases your drone's microwarpdrive speed by 5% per level, and allows you to use Drone Navigation Computer modules (which increase it even further). This skill is very important for users of heavy drones (and of no small benefit to light and medium drones).

Racial drone specialization

These skills are requires to use each faction's Tech 2 and 'Augmented' drones. Additionally, they increase the damage of these drones (but not other drone types) by 2% per level. These skillbooks come from LP stores and therefore vary in price; they require Icon skillbook2.png Drones V.

Support drones

These skills unlock the electronic warfare (EW), combat utility, logistics, and mining drones.

Capital

These skills are necessary for capital ship pilots who want to use drones; they all require Icon skillbook2.png Drone Interfacing V.

  • [[Skills:Advanced Drone Interfacing]] (Advanced Drone Interfacing, <span style="cursor: help;" title="The skillbook for this skill costs Advanced Drone Interfacing ISK">Advanced Drone Interfacing ISK): Allows you to fit one Drone Control Unit module per skill level (up to 5 at level V). Each DCU (which can only be used on capital ships) allows you to control an additional drone.
  • Fighters (12x, 75M ISK): Unlocks fighter drones, and increases their damage by 20% per skill level.
  • [[Skills:Fighter Bombers]] (Fighter Bombers, <span style="cursor: help;" title="The skillbook for this skill costs Fighter Bombers ISK">Fighter Bombers ISK): Unlocks fighter-bomber drones, and increases their damage by 20% per skill level. Requires Fighters V.

Modules and rigs

Drone Modules Drone Damage Amplifier - a low-slot module introduced with the Inferno expansion, it simply increases the damage your drones deal. Fitting more than one will suffer from stacking penalties, just like other low-slot damage modules. Very effective in specialised drone ships. Drone Link Augmentor - a high slot module, increases your drone control range by a lot. Remember that the further you send your drones, the longer they will take to get there. Drone Navigation Computer - a mid-slot module that increases the thrust gained from your drones' microwarpdrive. Because it increases thrust, instead of directly increasing speed boost, it is more effective in lighter drones. You will gain a much bigger effect from this module for light combat drones than you will for heavy combat drones. Omnidirectional Tracking Link - a mid-slot module that increases your drones' tracking speed and optimal range. Great for sentry drones, less used for other drones although it can still add some damage, especially if you use your drones against smaller ships than intended (e.g. medium combat drones versus frigates). These can be fit with Tracking scripts, just like turret tracking computers. Omnidirectional Tracking Enhancer - a low-slot module introduced with the Kronos expansion, it is very similar to the Omnidirectional Tracking Link, with slightly different stats. They cannot use Tracking scripts, just like turret tracking enhancers. Drone Control Unit - a module that can only be fitted to capital ships that gives you the ability to launch one extra drone (more importantly, one extra fighter or fighter-bomber) in space. There are also eight different drone rigs that can be fitted to your ship with various effects on your drones. I won't cover each one here or we'd be here all day, take a look in the market for them to see what they do - see under Ship Modifications -> <size> Rigs -> Drone Rigs.

Modules and Rigs for Drones Pilots can enhance the effectiveness of their drones with specialized modules and rigs. Note that there are no implants that directly improve drone capabilities, unlike other weaponry. [edit] Drone-related Ship Modules Drone Damage Amplifier - this low-slot module increases the damage your drones deal by 15% (T1) or 19% (T2). It requires 1 MW of powergrid and 27tf (T1) or 32tf (T2) of CPU. It suffers from stacking penalties, like all low-slot damage modules (e.g. gyrostabilizer, heat sink, ballistic control system). It's a great module if you are flying a drone-specific ship, such as the Dominix, Myrmidon or Arbitrator. Drone Navigation Computer - This medium-slot module adds 25 newtons of thrust to the deployed drones MWD speed. Requirements: powergrid: 1MW, CPU: 30tf. Skills required: Drone Navigation III, Drones IV. The Drone Navigation Computer module is seldom fitted, but it can be a fantastic addition, especially to advanced drone boats such as the Ishtar, for use with heavy drones. This module can make heavy attack drones nearly as fast as medium drones. Omnidirectional Tracking Link - This medium-slot module adds +20% to both the optimal range and tracking speed of the drones. This often makes little difference to standard combat drones which have small optimal ranges but can make a big difference to the sniping abilities of a sentry. Requirements: powergrid: 1MW, CPU: 35tf. Skills required: Drone Sharpshooting I, Drones V - If you are outfitting a drone boat and intend to make sentry drones a principal weapon, one or more Omnidirectional Tracking Links can give you the range you need to be effective. Drone Link Augmentor - This high-slot module comes in three variants: the standard Drone Link Augmentor I (Requirements: powergrid: 1MW, CPU: 50tf), the tech II version (Requirements: powergrid: 1MW, CPU 55tf) and a named variant, Black Eagle Drone Link Augmentor (Requirements: powergrid: 1MW, CPU: 45tf) - they add 20km, 24km and 26km to drone control range respectively. Skills required for the tech I and storyline modules are: Combat Drone Operation III, Drones III, while the tech II version requires Combat Drone Operation V. The Black Eagle variant is an award earned at the end of the Gallente epic arc. Of all the drone-enhancing modules, by far the most useful is the Drone Link Augmentor. They do take up a high slot, however, so you lose one significant weapon for each one you fit. Drone Control Unit - This high-slot module allows the pilot to field one more drone in space. However, this module requires the Advanced Drone Interfacing skill to use, allowing the pilot to install one control unit per level of the skill. The fitting requirements for this module are massive, needing 75,000MW of powergrid and 7,500tf of CPU. This module was designed to fit specifically on Carriers and Supercarriers. Skills required: Advanced Drone Interfacing I, Drone Interfacing V, Drones V.

Drone-related Rigs There are several ship modifications available to help enhance the capabilities of your drones. They come in small, medium and large rig slots, and in Tech I and Tech II, varieties. Most of these enhancements will be of interest only to dedicated "drone boat" pilots. The Tech I versions all require training in the Drones Rigging I, Jury Rigging III, and Mechanic III. Drone Control Range Augmentor - Increases a ship's drone control range (+15Km) at the expense of the ship's CPU capacity (-10%) Drone Durability Enhancer - Increases a ship's drone shield, armor and structure hit points (+20%) at the expense of a ship's CPU capacity (-10%) Drone Mining Augmentor - Increases a ship's mining drone yield (+10%) at the expense of the ship's CPU capacity (-10%) Drone Repair Augmentor - Increases a ship's drone repair amount (+10%) at the expense of the ship's CPU capacity (-10%) Drone Scope Chip - Increases a ship's drone optimal range (+15%) at the expense of the ship's CPU capacity (-10%) Drone Speed Augmentor - Increases a ship's drone max velocity (+10%) at the expense of the ship's CPU capacity (-10%) Sentry Damage Augmentor - Increases a ship's sentry drone damage (+10%) at the expense of the ship's CPU capacity (-10%) Stasis Drone Augmentor - Increase a ship's stasis web drones' factor of velocity decrease at the expense of the ship's CPU capacity (-10%)

Drone ships

Factions

Which factions have drone-specific bonuses

Ships

Main article: Drone Capable Ships

A nice table with the ship pictures and a brief description of why they are good drone ships.

Gallente

  • Ishkur: AF with potential 50m3 dronebay; one of the best AFs, good DPS ship or sticky tackler; good solo
  • Vexor: tough, flexible secondary tackle/DPS ship; shield-tank and fit blasters for more DPS than a Thorax!; good solo
  • Ishtar: lots of DPS and drone space in a small package; like other HACs can lose its role in a large mixed fleet; unlike some turret-based HACs, doesn't really work as a sniper
  • Myrmidon: tolerable DPS; sometimes fitted with autocannon or lasers; active armor tanked Myrmidon can be good small gang bait
  • Dominix: cheap and powerful Swiss Army Knife of a ship; high DPS w/ blasters and large drones; or RR or capacitor warfare platform
  • Sin: despite its drone bonuses, its primary function is to create covert cyno bridges, not to use drones; not noticeably better as a droneboat than the Dominix, but massively more expensive

Amarr

  • Sentinel: ewar, capacitor warfare and drones in one frigate hull; superb 1v1 ship, decent small gang support
  • Arbitrator: flexible combination of ewar and DPS; shield or armor tank; good solo or gang support ship
  • Curse: lethal mix of ewar and capacitor warfare, with drones for DPS; great gang ship; would be good solo if everyone didn't dock up when it appeared on scan
  • Pilgrim: cloaky Curse, with a shorter range; good surprise solo/small gang ship; can be a heavy scout/initial tackler

Gurista

  • Worm: similar to the Ishkur; held back by rockets' weakness but can mount a superb shield tank (for a frigate)
  • Gila: similar to the Ishtar, with missiles instead of hybdrid turrets, and a bigger dronebay

(Unless you're quite rich, the Rattlesnake doesn't offer a great deal more than the Dominix for PvP, given its expense.)

References

  1. ^ Fighters, EveOnline Wiki
  2. ^ The medium and large neuts operate on 12 and 24-second cycles, respectively, but this way of presenting the numbers makes comparisons easier.
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