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EVE New Citizens Q&A

 
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Drone target aggression
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Florin Pelecaci
Doomheim
#1 - 2011-10-07 09:19:14 UTC
Quick question.....

What factors in to the choice of target by your drones. If I release one of my hammerheads, what prompts them to decide whether to attack a frig or a BS?
I did wonder if it was proximity (to them), but after monitoring them it seems that is not the case.

I have the drones set to aggressive state and I know I can manually select targets with the T button, but just wondered if it was better to leave them to it? Perhaps they know what's best?

Thanks all!
Toshiro GreyHawk
#2 - 2011-10-07 10:08:07 UTC


Mostly it is NOT best to let the drones decide what to attack.

Being on Aggressive is good for if you've been jammed and can't lock a target - as then the drones will attack things on their own but mostly - you want to target something if you can - and tell the drones which target to attack by right clicking on them and selecting Engage Target.

If you have a set of targets locked, once you've started fighting, merely shooting at one of them with another weapon will usually send the drones off to attack it without you actually having to tell them to Engage but if they have already engaged something on their own - they'll continue to attack that target unless you specifically tell them to attack another. You can of course engage the target they have picked with your other weapons - if it doesn't matter. Taking them off of Aggressive so that they only respond to your orders to engage - will keep you from having to redirect them if they're going off on their own and engaging a target that is not the one you prefer.

Sorry but I don't have any information on the decision tree the drones use to select what they attack. Mostly the drones will attack something that is attacking you - but if several somethings are attacking you - I don't know how they pick which one to engage themselves.


.
Louis deGuerre
The Dark Tribe
#3 - 2011-10-07 10:21:55 UTC
Drones are stupid.
Set them to Agressive and Focus Fire in case you get jammed, but use manual commands when possible.
Note that you can use and change the keyboard drone commands in the settings.
Florin Pelecaci
Doomheim
#4 - 2011-10-07 10:55:21 UTC
Louis deGuerre wrote:
Drones are stupid.
Set them to Agressive and Focus Fire in case you get jammed, but use manual commands when possible.
Note that you can use and change the keyboard drone commands in the settings.

Yes I meant the F button rather than the T button. I usually command them myself unless I'm being sensor dampened by 3/4 frigs which is a real pain in the rear end. I have my drones set to aggressive and focus fire but for some reason every now and again they split up and attack different targets.....very odd
Hamster Too
Golden Fowl
#5 - 2011-10-07 11:10:12 UTC
Florin Pelecaci wrote:
Quick question.....

What factors in to the choice of target by your drones. If I release one of my hammerheads, what prompts them to decide whether to attack a frig or a BS?
I did wonder if it was proximity (to them), but after monitoring them it seems that is not the case.

I have the drones set to aggressive state and I know I can manually select targets with the T button, but just wondered if it was better to leave them to it? Perhaps they know what's best?

Thanks all!


After last expansion drones are really buggy but most of the time light drones will attack first frigates and destroyers, medium go after cruisers, heavy after battlecruisers and sentry drones attack battleships first.

You need to keep a close eye on your drones nowadays as they tend to go after multiple targets, even if you have "focus fire" selected, switch targets before killing the current one or just stop firing and go into idle mode.

Buggy like hell. Cry
Kilrayn
Caldari Provisions
#6 - 2011-10-07 14:57:47 UTC
Florin Pelecaci wrote:
Louis deGuerre wrote:
Drones are stupid.
Set them to Agressive and Focus Fire in case you get jammed, but use manual commands when possible.
Note that you can use and change the keyboard drone commands in the settings.

Yes I meant the F button rather than the T button. I usually command them myself unless I'm being sensor dampened by 3/4 frigs which is a real pain in the rear end. I have my drones set to aggressive and focus fire but for some reason every now and again they split up and attack different targets.....very odd



Drones split up eventually if you let them pick their own targets. It's pretty well known. Annoying if you fly a drone boat.

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Major Trant
Brutor Tribe
Minmatar Republic
#7 - 2011-10-07 15:32:25 UTC
This question has been asked loads of times and people reply that they are buggy. However, it is my opinion that CCP have delibrately engineered a 'Fog of War' element into their target selection criteria, which they manipulate with some hidden number on each target rat in PvE.

I have watched them carefully in PvE and in certain missions they always aggro onto specific targets consistently. In certain Drone missions, my lights always aggro onto the BS Drones rather than the Frigates. They consistently aggro onto Triggers too, Kruul in the Damsel in Distress mission for example. In other missions, I regularly see a single drone break off and race off after an unengaged rat 60 Km away and aggro the whole room, particularly when there is tackle on the field. I've learnt the hard way that you can't afford to have drones on Aggressive in the World's Collide mission, while in Guristas Extravaganza I let them out on Aggressive in order to pinpoint the trigger ships and then manually move them to a different target, but they always go back to the same ship each time the current target dies if I don't set them to passive.

In PvP it is all I can do to remember to launch them and then collect up at the end if I'm still alive. I've no idea what they do between the two events, but I sometimes get an extra KM or two as a result of their work. I suspect they are better behaved in PvP, namely that CCP simply allow them to select the correct targets based on signature radius to size of drone.
gfldex
#8 - 2011-10-07 18:50:06 UTC
base sig radius first and then range from owner (that's an educated guess as I have no access to the sol server source code)

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