Missions & Complexes

A few months ago I was having a similar problem. I played around with different fits (even using sentries) and found that when I was using a remote armor repairer on my drones, the rats would stop targeting my drones and start attacking my ship instead.

So... my theory was I needed to have something that I could run constantly targeting my drones to draw aggro to my VNI. The solution I came up with was a remote sensor booster. This does basically nothing helpful for my drones (that I can see)... but it has a long range and since it targets the drone rather than a rat it can be left active.

So... running forsaken rally points I drop the MTU, orbit at 25km with the oversized AB on (which creates an orbit around 29km). I wait for the first wave to aggro my ship, pop out the heavy drones, target one with the sensor booster and then... I never get any aggro of any kind on my drones.

Note... this does NOT work as well when you're running an anomaly where the rats spawn based on a specific ship being destroyed as opposed to the wave being completed. It seems that the rats see the drone attacking before the notice the remote sensor booster and attack the drones first sometimes in those scenarios. But when the rats spawn after the entire wave is destroyed, it works like a charm. The drones sit (getting boosted) for a few seconds, the rats lock on the drones and then the drones go to work. I do always wait for the rats in each wave to attack first rather than directing the drones to attack before I get aggro'd.

Of course, this could be related to something else as opposed to what I think the cause is (remote sensor booster)... but that's my solution.

I heard about that... but it feels like that's a hole that will get silently fixed one day. I can't imagine doing that is intended to impact drone aggro. I can see how using remote repairers/shield boosters or e-war is intended to draw aggro from your drones.

It doesn't "stop" them from targeting your drones and it has been around for a very long time. Frigs and other small ships will still switch off to your drones. Only good thing is if they do target you first they should be the first ones your drones kill.

I only ever do this when I notice that I can't bring my drones out without them getting targeted. Not sure what triggers this but something happens and all ships, including battleships, will hard switch targets to my drones as soon as they come out. I think it has something to do with fighter aggro logic.. but that is a wild arse guess.

npcs seem to target drones "bigger" than themselves

drop lights first to clear the frigs/dessies

mediums next for cruiser/bc

the heavy for bs

of course, you cant afk this way

another thread about this problem: -> Gurista Drones (aggro)

I use a couple of target painters to keep my drones aggro-free.

Get an ECM Burst and just leave it on when you land in an anom. That will generate significant amounts of threat and the rats should leave your drones alone. Other active mods also work if you have enough of them.

Just did 2 WC and NPC AI seem different, aggroing sentry ALL THE TIME few sec after launching them
Was a pain to micro managing the in and out on multiple accounts.

I'm for anti-AFK change but this is ridicilus! :(
Will try again tommorow...