Sentry Drones
Sentry Drones
Sentries are immobile drones that serve as stationary gun platforms. They are carried in a ship's drone bay and launched as needed. However, they cannot move and must be picked up physically at the conclusion of an engagement.
At the same size (25m³) and bandwidth (25Mbit/sec) as heavy drones, sentries are powerful, long range damage dealers. Their immobility and somewhat low tracking speeds makes them most effective against slower, larger targets, and generally they are deployed from battleships or similar combat vessels.
Although each type of sentry drone does the damage typical of its racial affiliation, drone choice often has to do with relative damage, range, and tracking. These are summarized here, with the detailed numerical data shown next.
| Name | Race | Range | Tracking | Damage (type) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bouncer | Minmatar | + | - | - exp |
| Curator | Amarr | - | + | + em |
| Garde | Gallente | -- | ++ | ++ th |
| Warden | Caldari | ++ | -- | -- kin |
- The Warden has the longest range. Targets are generally drawn straight towards it from far away, which offsets its slow tracking and smaller damage factor.
- The short-ranged Garde has the fastest tracking and damage factor. This makes it more effective than the others as a close defense.
- The Bouncer and Curator are in the middle and somewhat comparable; the Curator having a higher tracking speed and slightly higher damage factor, while the Bouncer has a longer range.
| Name Damage Type |
Race | Optimal (km) +TII | Falloff (km) +TII | Tracking (rad) +TII | Damage (hp) | Damage Modifier (%) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Bouncer exp |
Minmatar | 35 +7 | 40 +8 | .016 +003 | 64 | 1.5 |
 Curatorem |
Amarr | 35 +7 | 10 +2 | .023 +.005 | 64 | 1.6 |
 Gardether |
Gallente | 20 +4 | 15 +3 | .030 +.006 | 64 | 1.7 |
 Wardenkin |
Caldari | 50 +10 | 35 +7 | .010 +002 | 64 | 1.4 |
Skills and Fittings
Sentry drones are affected by all general drone skills as well as by ship and equipment bonuses. Note, however, that bonuses that improve drone movement will not help sentries at all, and those that apply to drone control range will probably not help much either.
Skills that are particularly useful to sentry drone operations include:
- Drone Sharpshooting - 5% increase in optimal range per level
- Drone Interfacing - 10% bonus to drone damage per level
- Sentry Drone Interfacing - 5% bonus to sentry drone damage per level
The mid-slot Omnidirectional Tracking Link improves the optimal range and tracking of all drones, and is especially useful for sentries. It uses scripts and draws capacitor power. The low slot Omnidirectional Tracking Enhancer is similar. It provides more range with slower tracking and uses neither scripts nor capacitor power.
The low slot Drone Damage Amplifier provides a damage bonus to all combat drones.
The rig, Sentry Damage Augmentor, applies specifically to sentry drones. It increases sentry drone damage at the expense of ship CPU capacity.
Strategy and Tactics
Most players recommend treating sentry drones as if they were a second set of guns. Deploy a full flight within range of your targets and turn them on - and then then use your ship to defend the drones, shooting the smaller, faster ships that will be the first to arrive.
Given the power of the drones, the larger, slower ships will likely be killed before they can arrive. If they do arrive, however, and if any drones are damaged, pick them up and replace them. (Remember that sentry drones cannot fly back to your ship ... you must physically go and get them.)
If things get too hot, pick up all your drones, run out to range, drop the drones again, and continue the fight. This approach is is sometimes described as boring, but it is effective and relatively safe.
Pros and Cons
Relative to other combat drones, Sentry Drones trade mobility for range. Their damage is somewhat lower than that of heavy combat drones, but the heavy drones waste considerable time flying from enemy to enemy ... whereas the sentry drones can retarget new enemies very quickly. Most players seem to agree that sentry drones, when used properly, are superior to heavy drones in PvE combat.
Pro
- High damage at long range
- No travel time; re-targeting is very fast
- Can easily be picked up if damaged, so not as often destroyed
- Easy to pick up and redeploy if different damage type is needed
- The only drone type that has a specific bonus rig
- No need for high level drone skills relating to movement
Con
- Immobility means that targets must be brought to the drones
- Cannot travel; must be picked up
- Your ship must stay near the drones
- Effectiveness drops off if targets get too close
- All damage types not available at all ranges
- Require high level targeting, damage and range skills for best use
