Player Features and Ideas Discussion

Or not.

an omni-directional TD would be nice.

the counter to drones is the fact that tey are the only weapon system that can be destroyed, use bombs/smartbombs or just ******* shoot them.

your literally asking for them to have every disadvantage of a turret/launcher, with no benefits to compensate, they are already the only weapon system that can be destroyed, thats a "counter" enough, especially sicne disengaging witht hem is difficult, since you either wait to recall them before leaving, the entire time having 0 DPS, or you gtfo without them, and no longer have a weapon system

Nerf drones, I say no way in hell. Drones are just about perfect for those who use them in PvE, any more nerfs and they become close to worthless for missions. In other words no nerfs needed just an adjustments to tactics in a PvP engagement to deal with the recent changes to drones and drones ships.

I said this before and was roasted for it. Take a tip from the NPC AI used in missions / sleepers and ignore the ships shoot the drones. No I am not saying that PvP is like missions or that mission are like PvP. What I am saying is that a smart pilot will find and use ideas to help them no matter where they come from. Only stupid pilots flatly reject something because it comes from PvE.

One perfect example is the low sec corp my son belongs to. After running missions with me in Rattles and Domi's they adopted a new fleet tactic to counter what used to be ever present Ishtar fleets. They use a 2 pronged approach, with arty fit ships warping in at distance with some logi help and attack the drones directly. Shorty after another group of smaller faster ships warps in and attacks the ships themselves thus forcing the pilots of those ships to make a decision. If they pull sentries or other heavy DPS drones for close in support against the faster then they switch targets the long range takes on the ships while the short range attacks drones. Other wise they stay with original plan, long range attacks drones, short fast attacks ships. Since adopting this basic tactic they have not had any trouble in defeating every Ishtar fleet they have encountered.

For a Domi fleet they reverse the process, small fast goes after drones while the long range heavy hitters go after the ships.

They address the mobile depot issue by keeping the pressure on the drones/ships, hard to take a re-fit break when you are constantly under attack and even if one of them does they use that as a way of helping to locate the Depots and destroy them.

May not work in your specific battles but this tactic change has served them well and it is just one of many ways that drones fleets can be countered.

You're an idiot. Drones are immune to ECM, SD, and TD (Because you are unreasonable, I know you will say: "you can ECM the drones individually, derp!)

They are ridiculously overpowered right now, and their needs to be a counter to them Ewar wise at the very least. Bombs are wonderful but you can't use them in low. Smartbombing works, sort of, as long as that ship is not tackled.

Please stop it!

For the longest time most of the drones < fighters used to be useless or less than useless (Amarr has drones now..).

If you don't stop shouting for dron nerfs, another missle nerf is incoming

I think a couple of you are missing my point of view. Let me make some statements with that in mind.

1. I don't want drones to get nerfed. I think they're fine the way they are. Drones aren't the problem. Ships that receive bonuses to their projection with modules/rigs to help are (FYI - I realize drone rigs aren't that good at the moment).

2. When CCP re-balanced ships who's primary dps method is drones they increased their drone bays significantly. 3 flights of sentry drones is a significant amount regardless the ability to re-fit.

3. While I don't fly any Gallente ships I know I've been engaged and applied damage to from 100km+ by sentry drones. Not bad for a weapon system that doesn't require you to be within range of the target.

4. Drone ships for the most part are immune to damps and ECM. They have a mind of their own and while you can't necessarily apply dps to the primary target you are applying DPS to something that's engaged you or they might be assigned to a primary target caller. This is the same lines as an FoF missile.

5. Most tracking disrupter focused ships aren't exactly DPS or tank boats. Giving them a firm counter ability to the current Ishtar/Vexor fleets out there wouldn't hurt.

You are kidding here I hope. If not you are totally off base here the Ishtar, Ishkur, both Domi's and the Myrmidon had no adjustments made to drone bay size in the balance pass and the Rattlesnake, Gila and Worm all had significant reductions in drone bay sizes. As they say perhaps you need to do a little research before you start posting things like this.

Drones are not immune to ewar, stop spouting crap. If you jam/damp the bunny (or just spread ewar) you greatly reduce their effectiveness, sentries rely on their alpha and of course without their ability to quickly switch targets or even focus the primary whether it be due to damps or jams on the host ship, they become useless. Stop talking as if drones don't completely rely on the pilot's ship, take a look at any sentry doctrine and you'll see they all have hard counters. Slowcats die to alpha nags and mass void bombs, ishtars die to anything that can apply dps if they're shield setup, armor ishtars are mean but they are vulnerable to hard brawl setups, bombs and neuts, potatoes (sentry BCs and BS) die to alpha, bombs and kiting, drone frigs don't even need a hard counter. All of these ships are vulnerable to some form of ewar, and ewar can be fit in with most fleet comps. Let's not forget that once you pull a sentry fleet away from it's sentries you can defang them with ease, it isn't hard to get a smartbomber in there, rinse repeat and voila you have a dead weight fleet with no to mindlessly beat on.

Have a new class of missile the anti drone missile that auto targets drones like the old FOF missile so they can hit your own fleet too