EVE New Citizens Q&A

You can't unfortunately...not yet anyway in game, but you can either work it out manually or a really good way is to use this application called Python. I installed it just the other day and you put your API key in and copy your fit over from the game and it works out absolutely everything. :)

Python

I'm not sure if it's shown if you right-click on a drone and show info.

Ships usually don't give bonus to range, typically they give bonus to damage and/or speed.

The base range is 20 km.

You get 5 km for each level in the skill Drone Avionics. Typically people train it to 4 (so that's 20 km), and then later to 5.
You get 3 km for each level in Advanced Drone Avionics, which you should train to 4 after training Drones to 5 (so you can control 5 drones), so that's 12 km.

Each Drone Link Augmentor module extends the range by 20 km (24 km if it's tech 2).

So, 20 km unskilled, 40 km with Drone Avionics, 60 - 80 km on drone ships that have spare high slots for DLA's, and keep the 12 km that you get from Adv. Drone Avionics as a buffer range to give you time to recall your drones before they get too far (i.e. if you have to hit a target at 50 km, fit a Drone Link Augmentor to get 60 km, don't rely on Adv. Drone Avionics).

NOTE: Sentry drones are different; they sit by your ship, so if you want to snipe longer distances you need the modules that increase drone optimal range, rather than drone link augmentors.

As far as I know, you still require drone control range for sentries even if they are sitting next to you. I haven't played around with sentries in the last couple of patches, but at least before you had to have your control range reach your targets and not just your optimal. Not aware of any changes to the mechanic in the last couple of patches.

Sentries aren't different.
Drone control range is not the max range from your ship to the drones, it's the max range from your ship to the target.

Now you can do silly things with sentries. Let's say you've got a drone control range of 50km and the sentries have an optimal of 100km. If you put your ship 50km from the target and 50km from where you dropped the sentries, the drones can hit the target 100km away.

I don't believe this is correct. I use sentries all the time and my control range is about 84 km. I have my drones set on aggresive and I've never seen them engage targets outside that range even when I'm shooting at stuff out past 90 km. I could be wrong here but I'm fairly certain that I'm not.

Drone Control Range = 20 km + Drone Avionics Skill * 5 km + Advanced Drone Avionics * 3 km + Bonuses From Drone Link Augmentors

I can confirm that drone control range is the distance from you to the target.

The only time drones will attack outside this range, is if the attack began inside this range, and the drones followed. Sentries however will go inactive when the range threshold is exceeded.

Another way to approach this is to have poor targeting skills and better drone skills. Then you can't target anything beyond your drone range... hehehe

the whole show info thing for drones in bay and in space in relation to modules that affect them are borked.

Be content in knowing that they do indeed work after extensive testing by myself and thousands of other pilots.