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EVE New Citizens Q&A

 
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Locking Weapons / Drones Separately
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Silver Dagger Kondur
Native Freshfood
Minmatar Republic
#1 - 2014-02-18 21:12:07 UTC
Greets!

If I am flying a Stabber, my 650 scout artillery obviously only hits larger targets. I combine the arty into a group, and hit 1 target.

The Stabber can hold 4 Hammerhead II drones, to get the smaller targets. But upon launching the drones, all i get is "Engage target" - not which target. After all, I have a target locked-up and am firing on it, and it's not the small target.

So, my question is, how do I direct my drones to the smaller target?

Thanks!
Douglas Nolm
Tribal Liberation Force
Minmatar Republic
#2 - 2014-02-18 21:20:17 UTC
I haven't used combat drones, but if it works like mining drones, or multiple weapon groups, just select the second locked target by clicking on it to the left of the overview then have the drones engage.
Mara Rinn
Cosmic Goo Convertor
#3 - 2014-02-18 21:38:51 UTC
Pretty much what Douglas said: to direct your drones against another target, lock that target, select it (so it now has the spinning-chevrons indicator) then select "Engage Drones" (by default the shortcut key is F).

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Thomas Builder
Center for Advanced Studies
Gallente Federation
#4 - 2014-02-18 22:13:08 UTC
Also, I believe that you have your drones set to aggressive.

In that mode, they automatically chose a target - usually the closest ship which aggressed you. They aren't particularly smart though and you are usually better off setting then to passive and manually assigning targets (with 'F', as Mara said).
Tau Cabalander
Retirement Retreat
Working Stiffs
#5 - 2014-02-18 22:47:14 UTC
To individually assign your drones:
* Change Aggressive to Passive.
* Un-check Focus Fire
* Click on the desired target
* Right-click on desired drone, and select Engage. [Might be a radial menu for this if you click and hold.]

Been a long time since I wanted to do this (it is very tedious).
Sabriz Adoudel
Move along there is nothing here
#6 - 2014-02-18 22:55:08 UTC
I assume you have the ability (via the Target Management skill) to lock several targets at once. If not, drop everything and train that skill to 4 right now and 5 soon.

To assign all your drones to attack one target, select the target and press F.

To assign a single drone to attack a target, select the target, then go to your drones window, expand any group you might have the drones in, then right-click one drone in that window and select "Engage Target". This is most useful with salvaging drones but has niche applications in PVP (e.g. putting one of your webs and two of your drones onto one of your opponent's drones) and PVE (e.g. killing frigates that only have a 3k-5k bounty, which means they are super-fragile and so sending 5 drones at them is overkill).

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J'Poll
School of Applied Knowledge
Caldari State
#7 - 2014-02-18 23:19:03 UTC
As said. You can lock more then 1 target

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Silver Dagger Kondur
Native Freshfood
Minmatar Republic
#8 - 2014-02-19 04:22:54 UTC
Thanks, all for the response!

Douglas & Mara - tried that in-game, thanks.
Thomas & Tau - will look for that next time in-game - hadn't heard of aggressive, passive or focus fire till i just now read that here.
Sabriz - I do have Target Management at 4, will consider to 5 soon as it seems mighty important to you!
J'Poll - likewise, thanks.
Umbra Brittanicus
RISK equals ISK
#9 - 2014-02-19 23:28:07 UTC  |  Edited by: Umbra Brittanicus
i'd advise you to train target management, which allows you to lock onto an extra target for each level. locked targets show up at the top of the screen and in the overview. at the top a target may have arrows spinning around. if you activate any modules that require a target (inc. drones as modules) this is the one they will shoot at/work against/ repair. when you get to bigger ships i'll imagine multilocking is quite useful, as instead of firing 8 rounds at a ship when only four are needed, you can take out two ships at once.

EDIT: also, remember to make sure you're not wasting time by getting too involved in combat. When you kill someone, lock another.
Sabriz Adoudel
Move along there is nothing here
#10 - 2014-02-20 00:29:06 UTC
Silver Dagger Kondur wrote:
.
Sabriz - I do have Target Management at 4, will consider to 5 soon as it seems mighty important to you!


5 will let you hold 7 simultaneous target locks, which is the limit for most of the medium price subcapital ships. (Most cheap ones cap out at 5 or 6). The 7th lock is worthwhile as long as your ship supports it.

Note that Target Management 5 unlocks Advanced Target Management which is much more restrictive in its uses, as very few ships allow you to lock 8 or more targets regardless of your skills. There are modules that will allow this but they are poor uses of fitting slots. I would only recommend training Advanced Target Management if you want to make significant use of logisitics ships (particularly triage carriers) in your future EVE career.

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Silver Dagger Kondur
Native Freshfood
Minmatar Republic
#11 - 2014-02-20 07:30:52 UTC
Thanks for the advanced info!
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Keno Skir
#12 - 2014-02-20 15:18:19 UTC
I'd leave focus fire on at all times. You will very rarely need them separated.

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