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Missioning ships for a noobie with the drone changes?
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Melkita
KarmaFleet
Goonswarm Federation
#1 - 2013-03-16 15:00:32 UTC
A friend recently joined me in Eve. They are completely new and I've ran a few lvl 2s and 3s in the past but went on to other things. Both of us happen to be Gallente, Should we follow down the Gallente ship path and use drone boats with the new AI or would it be better to go shields and missiles? I've been looking into this new drone AI aggro thing and see a lot of complaints but don't really understand it. Do the npc ships just break aggro on you now and switch to your drones or is it harder to get aggro now in the first place? I always waited until the waves of ships attacked me and then threw out my drones, how is this different now?

If someone could explain this drone thing in a bit more detail and offer suggestions on what is an easy and effective route to go for ships, it would be greatly appreciated. Mostly I'm wanting the transition into Eve for my friend to be smooth and not have them feel their initial training time in Eve was wasted.
Mara Rinn
Cosmic Goo Convertor
#2 - 2013-03-16 15:37:25 UTC
The new AI will change targets to whatever the AI considers to be "most dangerous right now."

Generally speaking and in roughly descending order, the things the AI considers dangerous are:

  1. ECM, target painters
  2. Remote repairs ("RR", aka "logistics", typically remote shield transfer or remote armour repairers)
  3. Webifiers, tracking disruptors, sensor dampeners
  4. Stuff that is actually shooting it
  5. Everything else (e.g.: those pirates who just landed on grid to blow you up, but haven't started shooting the NPCs yet)


I've managed to control the NPC aggro by simply flying two or three ships that remote rep each other. Start the rep chain, deploy the drones, have at thee!

For level 1 & 2 missions, the change is barely noticeable, especially if you do simple and obvious things like deploy drones then use turret weapons to shoot the NPCs (at which point your drones will assist you). The most successful fleet for me has been two RR battleships deploying T2 sentries (e.g.: Dominixes or Rattlesnakes) accompanied by a Huginn, Tengu or Drake (it doesn't really matter, the third ship is just there to direct the sentry drones to shoot stuff). With the two battleships providing remote reps to each other, the NPCs will end up focussing entirely on one of those battleships.

Every now and then things will go wrong and you'll realise too late that your dual-faction-web Huginn is deep in structure and you are reacting too late to get the remote reps activated, eventually witnessing the pretty Huginn explode. But if you pay attention instead of discussing the advantages of each freighter and how you can ensure that your shiny new freighter is not a bright and shiny target for gankers with the other half, that shouldn't happen to you.

Day 0 Advice for New Players
Bjron
501st Amarr
#3 - 2013-03-18 12:11:31 UTC
Level 3's in a Prophecy have been easy as pie.
To top that off, this was my first ever drone boat, I fitted it my self with no outside help, I was flying T1 drones but had some T2 drone mods.

It chewed through level 3's so easy, I was able to do 4-5 with no issues. Just swapping drones to match resists and changing missiles to match resists.

My drones never got hit.

Despite the changes I think the Prophecy and Harbinger came out quite well.

I ran the following on my Prophecy, you could adapt it to the Myrm easy enough I think.
4 HML 2's, 1 DLA.
AB T2, T2 cap rechargers X2 and one drone nav.
3 DDA, 3 resist mods and 1 rep.
2X Nano pumps
1 X Nanobot

It's not 100% best fitting ever, but if you drop a resist mod it should fit on the Myrm.


Keep in mind, this is my (limited) experience with level 3's in Amarr space.
Osiris Andras
Intergalactic Space Maoris
#4 - 2013-03-19 23:32:38 UTC  |  Edited by: Osiris Andras
Mara Rinn wrote:
The new AI will change targets to whatever the AI considers to be "most dangerous right now."

Generally speaking and in roughly descending order, the things the AI considers dangerous are:

  1. ECM, target painters
  2. Remote repairs ("RR", aka "logistics", typically remote shield transfer or remote armour repairers)
  3. Webifiers, tracking disruptors, sensor dampeners
  4. Stuff that is actually shooting it
  5. Everything else (e.g.: those pirates who just landed on grid to blow you up, but haven't started shooting the NPCs yet)



Basically this except that point 4 needs to be split up.
- 4a - stuff that is shooting it in a similar size class
- 4b - stuff that is shooting it in any other size class

4a means that frigate-sized NPC's LOVE to shoot your drones, sometimes they even change targets before your drones get close enough to actually damage the NPC (particularly elite frigates)

Consider number 5 further too - if you fly into a mission with a salvage alt (or you fly into somebody else's mission) then you're considered a valid target to ships in your size class, even if you dont shoot them, but provided the mission runner isn't shooting them either.

I can't speak from drone boat experience, but L3's are a non-issue in a T2 fit BC, as long as you adjust your tank for the mission. Drone aggro in T3's isn't too much of an issue but you can't just get room aggro and let your drones fly free like you used to.

L4's - Doing Guristas missions (TD NPC's) with elite frigates that are mission triggers is like pulling teeth. It sucks. Expect to lose up to 4 drones if you have a poo connection and can't recall them fast enough
Cage Man
Fusion Enterprises Ltd
Pandemic Horde
#5 - 2013-03-19 23:41:01 UTC
Rule of thumb which I use is not to send your drones more than 10km away. That way they come back quick enough if they take aggro. haven't lost any yet. That goes for missioning and WH PVE. I carry 1 set of light's and sentries (if said ship is a drone boat). Don't even bother with medium or large drones. Never have as I find them way to slow.
Osiris Andras
Intergalactic Space Maoris
#6 - 2013-03-21 04:41:10 UTC
Cage Man wrote:
Rule of thumb which I use is not to send your drones more than 10km away. That way they come back quick enough if they take aggro. haven't lost any yet. That goes for missioning and WH PVE. I carry 1 set of light's and sentries (if said ship is a drone boat). Don't even bother with medium or large drones. Never have as I find them way to slow.


I find that with my crap connection that while I can recall drones fast enough the first few times, they still get eaten into armour. Eventually the elite faction frigates get their webs on it one too many times and bye bye Hammerhead II's
Tauranon
Weeesearch
CAStabouts
#7 - 2013-03-21 05:08:41 UTC
Osiris Andras wrote:
Cage Man wrote:
Rule of thumb which I use is not to send your drones more than 10km away. That way they come back quick enough if they take aggro. haven't lost any yet. That goes for missioning and WH PVE. I carry 1 set of light's and sentries (if said ship is a drone boat). Don't even bother with medium or large drones. Never have as I find them way to slow.


I find that with my crap connection that while I can recall drones fast enough the first few times, they still get eaten into armour. Eventually the elite faction frigates get their webs on it one too many times and bye bye Hammerhead II's


Hammers are very situational these days. I find that a blaster vexor which is picking up its drones and carrying them to the opponents will be ok, but cannot send the drones on missions much.

If you are using rails and standing off, then you really want 3 sentries.

*most* times I've disconnected I've found sentrries auto-recalled too.