Drones
Overview
Drones are semi-autonomous vehicles launched from larger spacecraft designed to augment the launching ship's capabilities. Drones are stored in, and launched from the drone bay of a ship and require bandwidth to control. Up to five drones may be deployed at a given time given sufficient bandwidth and skills. The two exceptions to this limit are carriers and the rare guardian vexor.[1]
Bandwidth is a ship based constraint which dictates the number of active drones you are capable of fielding in space at a given time; drone bay size is another ship based constraint that dictates the number of deployable drones (drones can not be deployed from the cargo hold) you have at your overall disposal and the skill Drones allows the pilot to field one drone per level.
Drones can be instructed to commit to specific targets but are also able to take action on their own. For example, combat drones completing the destruction of a target ship that receive no further orders move autonomously onto a new ship. This provides the player with the option to let the drones "do their thing" while concentrating on other matters or to reel them in and concentrate on specific targets making for a very dynamic play style.
Drone Types
Drones are capable of serving many different roles and exist in many different sizes. The most popular use of drones however is in combat.
Combat Drones
These drones are easily the most used by pilots and offer many varying size and damage options. The types of damage they do are determined by their race of origin:
| Race | Primary Damage | Fighter Damage* |
|---|---|---|
| Amarr | EM | Thermal |
| Caldari | Kinetic | Thermal |
| Gallente | Thermal | Kinetic |
| Minmatar | Explosive | Kinetic |
*This is an additional damage type that the fighter sized drones do as secondary damage.
Light Scout
The smallest drones in existence, taking up only 5m3 with 5Mbit/sec bandwidths, 1km ranges and 2km falloffs. With their high tracking speeds and velocity they are the drones of choice versus frigates, destroyers and Tech 2 Drones.
Medium Scout
These are the next step up from light drones and take up 10m3 with 10Mbit/sec bandwidths, 1km ranges and 3km falloffs. These do much more dps but with lessened tracking speeds, making them the best drones to use against cruisers and battlecruisers.
Heavy Attack
The largest standard combat drones, these take up 25m3 with 25Mbit/sec bandwidths, 1km ranges and 4km falloffs. Their high dps but low tracking speeds make them ideal for use against battlecruisers and battleships.
Sentry
These are the same size and require the same amount of bandwidth as heavy drones. However, instead of orbiting the target ship they instead sit at where they have been deployed and fire at their enemies from long range. They have varying ranges and falloffs that are much larger than their heavy attack cousins as well as dealing more damage. However, they have very low tracking speeds and are immobile once deployed.
Sentry drones are unique in that the ranges and falloffs of the different racial types vary as opposed to the more standard types of combat drone in which they are all the same. The graph to the right illustrates the different damages the drones Garde(Gallente), Curator(Amarr), Warden(Caldari) and Bouncer(Minmatar) do over distance[2]. This can be summarised by the following table:
| Best | Worst | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Damage Modifier: | Garde | Bouncer | Curator | Warden |
| Optimal/Falloff: | Warden | Bouncer | Curator | Garde |
| Tracking: | Garde | Curator | Bouncer | Warden |
Fighters
Fighters are frigate sized drones that do cruiser damage and can only be fielded by motherships and carriers. They are capable of warping and as such they would pursue a target into warp, meaning the only escape from a fighter is to jump system or to dock[3].
The following table displays the differences between the four fighter drones[4]:
| Drone Name | Race | Base Damage
(T2/T1) |
Range | Falloff | Tracking Speed
(rad/sec) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Templar | Amarr | 200/100 | 4500 | 2500 | 0.075 |
| Dragonfly | Caldari | 213/106 | 5000 | 3500 | 0.0625 |
| Firbolg | Gallente | 175/88 | 1500 | 3500 | 0.1 |
| Einherji | Minmatar | 125/63 | 1000 | 5000 | 0.125 |
It must be noted that fighters not only deal their respective race's damage type but also deal an additional damage type as outlined in the table at the start of the combat drone section.
Electronic Warfare Drones
Electronic warfare drones are the electronic warfare (EW) equivalents of their combat contemporaries, unlike combat drones they do not do damage but instead apply a type of electronic warfare on their target, decided by the racial origin of the drone. There are three EW drones per race, reflecting the light scout, medium scout and heavy attack drones of the combat models.
Tracking Disruption
These are the Amarr EW drones and work to lower the damage and chance to hit of a target's turrets; this however has no effect on their missile launchers.
ECM
These drones belong to the Caldari and as such have the ability to jam the target's lock, this not only drops the current locks that target may have but also makes them unable to lock again for a short time.
Sensor Dampening
These Gallente drones specialise in reducing the range and speed of enemy targeting systems, meaning the target either has to come closer to lock or will take longer to achieve that lock in the first place.
Target Painting
These drones follow the Minmatar principle of increasing the target's signature radius, essentially making it "bigger" in combat terms. This means ships are able to lock on to that target faster and do greater damage with both turrets and missiles.
Combat Utility Drones
Similar to EW drones, these perform auxiliary tasks in battle not derived from basic damage dealing or racial electronic warfare.
Energy Neutralisation
These drones drain the capacitor of the target vessel (working in a similar manner to a Neut) and come in three sizes based on Amarr combat drone design.
Stasis Webification
These drones slow the sub-light speeds of the target, making them easier to hit and do damage to. They only come in one size, in a design similar to that of the heavy Minmatar drone beserker.
Logistics Drones
These drones are often referred to as the polar opposite to combat drones as they work to repair their targets instead of damage them. 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.
Shield Repair
These drones work to repair the shield of the target and use the designs of the small, medium and heavy Caldari drones.
Armour Repair
These drones work to repair the armour of the target and use the designs of the small, medium and heavy Gallente drones.
Mining Drones
Aside from combat and support model drones, these drones exist purely to mine ore from asteroids. There are four mining drone models:
| Drone Name | Size m3 | Bandwidth | Ore Yield | Speed
(rad/sec) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Civilian Mining Drone | 5 | 5 | 10 | 300 |
| Mining Drone I | 5 | 5 | 15 | 400 |
| Mining Drone II | 5 | 5 | 25 | 500 |
| Harvester Mining Drone | 10 | 10 | 30 | 250 |
Mission Running
Drones are a very popular option for people wanting to get involved with PvE, they offer cap-free damage over a variable range of dps, tracking speeds and damage types (assuming you have enough room in your drone bay). Finding the right drone for the job however is very important as with any type of damage dealing.
Faction Considerations
When completing missions with a drone boat (the term for a ship designed primarily for fielding drones) information on what you are going to expect in terms of resistance is paramount. This information must mainly be the type of ships you are expecting to encounter and their faction. Each faction does and is weak to certain damage types and the size of the enemy ships will help determine what size of drone to use (see the combat drone list above).
The chart to the right provides a mathematical example to the advantages and disadvantages of the different types of light scout drones[5]. A general way of displaying which racial drone damage type would be effective against which faction is displayed below (this does not account for the additional fighter damage type)[6]:
| Faction Name | Weaknesses | Best Drone Race |
|---|---|---|
| Angel Cartel | Ex/Ki/Th | Minmatar |
| Blood Raider | EM/Th/Ki | Amarr/Gallente |
| Guristas | Ki/Th/Ex | Caldari/Gallente |
| Sansha's Nation | EM/Th/Ex | Amarr/Gallente |
| Serpentis | Ki/Th/EM | Caldari/Gallente |
| Rogue Drones | EM/Th/Ki | Amarr/Gallente |
| Mercenary | Th/Ki/Ex | Gallente |
| Mordu's Legion | Ki/Th/Ex | Caldari/Gallente |
| EoM | Ki/Ex/Th | Caldari |
As you may notice in the above table, multiple races have been suggested for certain factions. This is because the base damage of each racial drone type has also been taken into account as well as the weaknesses of the enemy faction. The best example of this are the Gallente drones which offer higher dps than the other races' drones making them the choice against some factions even when they do not deal the damage type that faction is most weak to.
Strategies
The following are a collection of basic strategies for handling drone combat in a PvE scenario, this is certainly not comprehensive and is open to player style considerations and popular opinion, its is hoped that these will provide a baseline with which pilots may develop their own stratagem. Also see the Tips and Tricks section on drones for information about drone use in combat.
Ship Tanking
When piloting drones into missions the usual strategy is for the drone boat to have a powerful active tank with combat drones suited for the factions and ships in the drone bay. The basic idea is for the pilot to gain and hold the aggro (attention) of the NPC pirates and then once achieved the appropriate drones are released and set on targets at the pilots discretion while the pilot fires their guns to aid with dps.
Alternative Ship Tanking
This method is a very slight variation and is often adopted by players who have progressed onto better ships with more slots at their disposal. Aggro is gained and held in the same manner as before, but when the drones are released to attack a targetted enemy, no more targets are made and the drones are left free to pick targets of their own choosing.
This leaves the pilot free to salvage wrecks, only changing drones if a new wave enters the room (to avoid the drones taking aggro) or if different sized drones are required to tackle larger/smaller ships.
Drone Tanking
Also referred to as drone seeding, this is a highly unorthodox tactic involving the use of multiple cheap (usually light) drones to speed tank the enemy while the player deals the majority of the damage without taking aggro. This method is mostly used in situations where the pilot is required to "punch above their weight" allowing them to complete a mission they would otherwise have to abandon.
PvP
NB: I have chosen to leave this section empty has I have had zero experience with using drones in PvP and am in no way qualified to even tabulate information on this topic. I gladly leave this in the hands of pilots with more experience in these matters.
Skills
As many know, in the Eve universe, skills are the key to making a big difference and drones are no exception to this rule. As there are many varied drones in existence, so too are there a myriad of drone abilities to the extent that drones get a section of their own. As such it would be pointless to dictate every single drone skill here but instead to isolate ones key to becoming a successful drone runner[7].
Basic
- Drones V
- This is mandatory. Each drone you add increases your damage output. 2 drones = 100% over 1. 3 drones = 50% over 2. 4 drones = 33% over 3. 5 drones = 25% increase over 4. So having less than 5 drones costs you with respect to the damage you can do and is more than the benefits from any other drone damage bonuses you can get.
- Scout Drone Operation V
- Adds 5km to max drone range per level and is needed at 5 to gain access to T2 variants. Range of control is crucial to all types of drones and the tech 2 variants are roughly 2 times more powerful than the tech 1 versions.
- Combat Drone Operation IV
- +5% Damage for light/medium drones. Is a very important skill. Using large drones against small targets doesn't work well. Using the right sized drone against a target yields far superior results. Usually a flight of light drones will decimate a frigate faster than a group of sentry drones can.
- Drone Interfacing IV
- +20% Damage/Mining Yield. This is the second biggest boost skill to the damage your drones can do, directly behind Drones. Training it to 5 takes a great deal of time but training it to 4 will yield more damage benefits than getting a specialization to 4 so the training time really isn't much larger for the benefits you will get.
Advanced
- Heavy Drone Operation V
- Allows for the use of heavy drones and adds +5% damage per level. When using heavy drones its vital to get V in this skill to open access to the T2 variants.
- Sentry Drone Interfacing IV
- Allows for the use of sentry drones and adds +5% damage per level. Only worth training to 5 if sentry drones are used often enough to warrant T2 use.
Support
- Drone Navigation III
- Increases the drones MWD speed by 5% but can cause your drones to overshoot. Train with caution. Faster drones means they get to the target faster but also will cause an 'over shot' type effect, costing damage as the drones then may need to move back in range of the target. Fast drones against slow targets is where you will see this come into play. (Note: This issue has been fixed)
- Drone Sharpshooting III
- Increases drone optimal range. Another skill to be wary of, this may cause lower dps in certain situations. (Note: This issue has been fixed)
- Drone Durability III
- +5% to drone shield, armour and hull hit points. Not the most useful drone skill but can help a keen eyed pilot save a targeted drone.
- Racial Drone Specialization III
- These come in four flavours each giving +2% damage bonus to drone damage per level. Good if you find yourself sticking to one race of drones.
Modules
Drones are renowned for taking the heat of a pilot's modules, essentially becoming additional damage/EW/logistics without the need to fit, rig or spend cap on them. However, if a pilot is serious about their usage of drones, it is important to be aware of the modules available to help augment their ability[8].
This module only has one variant named Drone Navigation Computer I and adds +25% to the deployed drones MWD speed allowing them to get into optimal range faster as well as keep up with a moving target. It has a very low powergrid usage and the lowest of the CPU usage of all the modules at 30 tf.
Omnidirectional Tracking Link
This module also only has one variant named Omnidirectional Tracking Link I and 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. This module uses very little of the powergrid and has a CPU usage of 35 tf.
Drone Link Augmentor
This module comes in two variants Drone Link Augmentor I and Black Eagle Drone Link Augmentor they add 20km and 26km to drone control range respectively as well as using 50 tf and 45 tf CPU respectively, both have very low powergrid usage.
Drone Control Unit
This module only has one variant: Drone Control Unit I and per module used 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 75,000 MW of the powergrid and 7,500 tf of CPU.
