Drones Issues

uhm, how did you construct the drone, did you place warheads in it??

in the design-window, did you give it standard orders other than "kamikaze" ??

you're lucky... my drones ram planets no mattewr what setting i give them. optimal firing range? ram planet. drone attack? ram planet. maximum firing range? ram planet.
bloody useless.

the most annoying thing is they don't even attack anything else.
and they only auto order themselvces cos i cannot change orders before they go back to auto move/attack.

as i said, useless.. unless i wanmt to ram planets, of course

This is because Drones are set to "Seeks Towards Target And Rams" in VehicleUnitTypes.txt, which overrides any other strategy. Delete that entry and they'll follow a set strategy. They are also set not to be controlled by the player after launch as well - but that can also be removed.

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Space Empires Depot | SE:V Balance Mod

Thank you Kwok. That's some valuable information, there!

thanks, mate.

didn't work. i removed both lines you mentioned and the other 2 lines that mention them and the drones still ram planet. i think it's the order i gave them when i created them. if i create new drone 'designs' without 'drone attack' order then maybe they won't feel the urge to ram planets [utter utter utter stupidity]?

he he.. you know what this reminds me of? sperm... they want to get to the planet core to create life. i reckon the devs did this as a secret joke. it has to be.. drones that ram a massive object and do almost zero damage no matter what you tell them? they are little sperm dudes trying to find the egg.

[the egg of mantubi]

hey, mate, can you tell me exactly what lines i need to remove cos i removed the lines you mention but they have reappeared so they must be the wrong ones.
either that or it just doesn't work.,.. the vehiclestxt file is just for show [like a readme for modders, kinda thing] and doesn';t actually affect gameplay.

thanks
rs

i removed the lines again and this time they stayed gone.

but...

now i cannot start nor reload a game as it reports the two lines are missing.

any ideas, anyone?

If you look at the structure of the Drone entry in VehicleUnitTypes.txt (in the Data directory), you'll notice:

Number Of Unit Capabilities := 12
followed by
Unit Capability 1 Type := (flag value)
counting on up to
Unit Capability 12 Type := (flag value)

If you want to remove flags entirely, you'll need to make sure that you have an unbroken series of sequential numbers, and that you correctly edit the number of capabilities to match.

Good work, jdunson. I wanted to say that myself, but I couldn't figure out how to put it so anyone could understand.

Kwok,

How do you have drones enable in balance mod? Is it same as stock or have you changed the strategy settings and allowed for player control post launch?

Thanks,

Javaslinger

thanks, mate. it's pretty obvious really , isn't it? 12 unit capabilities and 2 are missing so the game is bound to report an error.
just me not using my noggin, again.

thanks

Javaslinger - I had meant to the change before but forgot about it. So right now like stock, but changed for v1.07.

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Space Empires Depot | SE:V Balance Mod

Those changes to VehicleUnitTypes.txt give me control over the drones' direction but they still won't ram sats half the time. Sometimes they do, sometimes they don't. They seem to have no problem ramming big sats (and planets, bases, and ships) but the small sats they hit about 30% of the time.

Is there some kind of probability code that a drone might miss ramming something?? When it "misses" it just goes above the sat and spins around. I try to run back and try another run but it keeps "missing". I don't get it.

Sometimes it'll fly pass the sat and hit the planet. But that's rare...and never does any damage to the planet. I just lose the drone...which is useless anyway....

Any more ideas or explanations???

I've noticed that in stock SEV, the AI uses only the "optimal range" strategy for everything it builds. Therefore, if one makes the changes mentioned to get control of the drones, I don't expect AI drones will ram their targets.

I haven't tested it, but that would explain why that code was included in the first place.

It was included because you shouldn't be able to control your drones, not even control them in system view IIRC: only to set a target.

Well, you should be able to alter their strats.

I agree that direct manual control is a bit much. One can justify either can or can't on realism grounds, but it's not very sporting.

Hi there , I found that when creating a drone that you want to control efficientley for longRange Searching, Just set it up as below
1:Create a Drone, select design type "satellite" and dont get hurt for orders. This is perfect for controable drone, with good sensors a great recon unit that runs off when attacked? Its as controllable as a ship and wont ram anything? It only carries sensors and engines as speed keeps it alive when attacked (most of the time)this also provides lots of supplies for range missions?
Hope this helps Spuda

The simplest way I came across is to change:

Unit Capability 11 Type := Can Communicate

and delete Unit Capability 12.

You will need to change the number of Unit Capabilities from 12 to 11 as well.

In BM, I use drones very very very effectively.

In fact, they are almost the game's uberweapon since it's like building a warp-capable fighter that also has the unique ability to mount capital grade weapons. Spaceyards aren't even required. They take up all that free construction space in your empire, and in a pinch, a well designed group of drones will easily outgun most ships.

I outfit scout drones with sensor, and solar panels and use them to scout out the entire universe, or patrol neutral systems, or use them as mobile warp-capable satellites as my front line expands. A good stack of Capital Ship Missile drones will crush any warp point crossing attempt - AND can warp to the other side to test enemy defenses.

Furthermore, I use groups of drones, some supply drones, some sensor drones, some CSM drones, some DUC drones, some PD drones, and use them against enemy fleets with much success. The only counter to drones are fighters that are manually set to target drones first, but even a dedicated PD DUC drone group will wipe those out too.

I also use drones for reordnance and resupply of stranded ships, and use my drone fleets as the first responders to support and defend ships stranded behind enemy lines.

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