Player Features and Ideas Discussion

Drone ships don't have the capacity to view drones as highly disposable unless you eliminate variety in drone fitting, which marginalizes a pretty significant advantage they have.

This forum is an unmitigated cesspool of hateful and villainous thoughts; I fully expect this post to be spat on, pissed on, and [furiously] defecated upon. Having said that...

I absolutely LOVE the proposed change(s) that will be coming to the Worm - particularly the new role bonus! With 300% bonus to drone damage and HP, and the ability to effectively field 2.5 flights of steroid-pumped light drones, the Worm will become a premiere "elite light drone" attack platform.

Allow me to do some arithmetic for us:

All light drones (both tech1 and tech2) have a base elemental damage of 15 points - this is before elemental-specific modifiers apply, and before tech2 bonus modifiers apply. Over 4 seconds, this equates to an "absolute base" of 3.75 DPS on any tech1/2 drone - before any further modifiers.

So, what will we get with the PVPholics' tech2 Warriors?

3.75 * 1.3 (base light drone explosive modifier) * 1.2 (base tech2 modifier) * 2 (drone interfacing maxed) * 4 (new worm role bonus) * 1.25 (combat drone operation maxed) * 1.1 (minmatar drone spec maxed) * 1.23 (first DDA2) * 1.2 (second DDA2) * 1.1311 (third DDA2) * 2 (max drones fielded by new Worm) = 214.87 DPS

Warrior 2's with three DDA2's:
3.75 * 1.3 * 1.2 * 2 * 4 * 1.25 * 1.1 * 1.23 * 1.2 * 1.1311 * 2 = 214.87 DPS

Warrior 2's without any DDA2's:
3.75 * 1.3 * 1.2 * 2 * 4 * 1.25 * 1.1 * 2 = 128.70 DPS

Hobgoblin 2's with three DDA2's:
3.75 * 1.6 * 1.2 * 2 * 4 * 1.25 * 1.1 * 1.23 * 1.2 * 1.1311 * 2 = 264.45 DPS

Hobgoblin 2's without any DDA2's:
3.75 * 1.6 * 1.2 * 2 * 4 * 1.25 * 1.1 * 2 = 158.40 DPS


This is only the damage-centric part of the discussion; I won't even bother to elaborate upon the [vastly] improved tank of the 2 light drones, as Grath has already [brilliantly] covered in an earlier post of his, which can be found here.

So with vastly augmented drone DPS centered on 2 light drones, each of which has the EHP of a decently well-tanked frigate, there's really no room to complain - you could [very easily] get 200+ DPS on a ship before counting any of its launchers!


A final point to [seriously] consider, for all of those who keep posting new Worm "attribute" lists with 5+ drones: the whole rationale to move down towards fielding only 2 drones at a time was done for both gameplay originality and server load--was it not proven, in recent memory, that fielding thousands of drones on-grid at a time could cause soul-crushing lag?

I would *pay* to field fewer drones, each with vastly improved HP, associated [shield] regeneration, and damage. My only hope is to see this excellent mechanic transition [in some form] into the Gila and Rattlesnake someday, preferably with Medium drone emphasis on the Gila and Medium+Heavy drone emphases on the Rattlesnake.

When can we see the cruisers and battleships?

This is a great idea, it even fits lore wise considering Amarr are a drone race and neut race. +1

suddenly people doing L4s in a rattlesnake with only 2 sentries.......and only with kinetic/thermal ammo

Actually it's demonstrably better than 5 drones with a 10% per level bonus. It's also getting buffed in the hybrid weapons range and loosing nothing outside of it. The stratios on the other hand didn't get a bonus adjustment to compensate for the loss of bandwidth, making that completely incomparable.

Few people are hung up on the actual number of drones in space since the bonuses turn that into a comparatively meaningless metric when evaluating performance.


Got strait damage buff for 2 types
Lost nothing on the other types
People still complain and ask for further damage type restriction

If we get what I'm [not-so-secretly] hoping for, the Rattler will become a non-sentry drone platform! ^^;

Ignore the worm's damage bonus to missiles. I mean seriously. It does not have it now, it's not hurting you to have it later... there is no need for the hate. CCP obviously likes the specific damage bonuses on missles, its only a few missile ships that get ROF instead of a Kin or Exp bonus.

This has happened before. Swarms of drones caused issues, and now we have bandwidth and drone limits. Get over it. This is probably just a proof of concept to do this more globally. Honestly at some point I expect the dronebay to turn into some kind of weird fitting screen where drone 'modules' get installed, and drones themselves become purely client side graphic effects that basically behave ship turrets with an AI control option.

at its best and if it follows the line of the worm, it will be both for heavies and sentries, its not like its too hard to fit navigation computers or omnidirectionals.......

I love this idea, there are SO many different ways to make these ships unique, don't be afraid to think outside the box Rise. These all feel pretty boring/meh on ships that arguably have the most room to be innovative and unique.

Like my bonused energy neut drones idea...don't be afraid of being out there.