Missions & Complexes

You can remote rep drones...

To test the AI, I ran a mission lost a couple drones which is OK. but if the mission (L4) has a lot of frigates i can see things becoming more problematic, almost forcing small weapons to be equipped to deal. They certainly tore my drones to shreds before i could pull them back and I could not target and rep a drone in time with my BS.

The cost to run missions certainly goes up a lot if you spend 1M++ to replace drones (for a fast mission). Not sure my thoughts on this yet.

Looks like its sentries from now on??

My 2 cents: some kind of module to repair only drones (range on current remote repairs is far too limited for this purpose). Make is rather cap intensive and high slot.

-Chase

I'm familiar with sleeper AI - I've had no problems using drones with a hurricane in C1 to C3 wormholes.

The problem is that in some missions you get frigates spawning so close you have to use drones on them yet they are in large enough numbers that one can easily die before they can be recalled from the initial rat alpha, add to that not every BS has an excess of mid slots to fit an extra module or two just to make you more attractive to rats as VV has pointed out.

And to add to the problem there is also an issue with some missions where you now get full room aggro on warp in whereas before you had multiple groups that would only aggro under specific conditions - I'm avoiding World's Collide for the moment, I dread to think what the middle and final rooms of that will be like with multiple scramming frigs starting within close range that used to not aggro but could now aggro immediately.

Kithran

I'm not right impressed. I've had two missions tonight where as soon as you warp in, the entire room aggros.

My Fleet Tempest is pretty quick at cleaning up but when you're trying to do Assault Level 4 against Serpentis and you have 8 Damps on you, there's not a lot you can do.

I've just attempted - Shipyard theft, Level 4 against Angels, again whole room aggros upon warp, my guess would be about 1500DPS incoming pretty quickly.

I hope this is a bug as it's like trying to solo an 8\10 plex on your own

So I've done a few missions already and haven't lost a drone yet.

Some notes:

I re-did my fit to include a TP. That seemed to be enough to keep my drones in the clear. Was using 3 omnis.

Used a mixture of lights, heavies, and sentries. None of the NPCs so far switched. Even had around 8 to 12 frigates on top of me, some of them webbers. Once I kicked off my painter, I had no problems taking them out.

Have run a few missions for different factions (different NPCs). The easiest were Angels by far. I felt like the sensor dampening on Serp and jamming on Guristas was slightly stronger though.

The DDA IIs added quite a bit to the drone DPS. Most sentries 2-volleyed into armor, 3-volleyed worst-case. The higher damage was noticeable.

You know what really makes me laugh about the whole drone and new AI situation? Pretty much this stuff you just said.

Fit no EWAR/RR - drones are useless because they get focused.
Fit any EWAR/RR - drones are better than they were before. Even new waves won't switch on them as soon as you slap the TP on someone.

Soooo, what exactly was the improvement in AI again? In a way, it's even dumber than it was before.

I'll do some testing of my own with a TP on an ishtar.

Thanks for the tip!

So far, based on limited and short-term usage of goblins (gardes all the way unless really in a tight spot) I did against the few frig rats I saw, the "smarter" AI is in fact "dumber" this way. (Do note I didn't have more than 3 frigs at a time, and my goblins weren't out for more than half a min.)
But if you do not add an EWAR mod, they are quite quick to pick up.
So now drone ships, that traditionally have one slot less, and then usually dedicate a slot or two to drone range extenders alone (if needed) also dedicate a mid for ewar (highslot remote rep ain't good enough, if the scrambling frig is just outside rep range).

Then CCP hears mission runners have it EZ-Mode with the EWAR, makes rats hate AI more, and any ship without an EWAR module cannot use drones.

This ain't WoW?
We just have our taunt mechanic applied to every npc fight in game that didn't have it yet.

If I can pick up a serp frig buddy that doesnt web, then have him follow me around then no problem.

Guristas seem to be a no-go however. I guess thats alright though, since drone boats didn't even sweat those losers before.

The situation with drones are so ridiculous, I have to admire the morons who designed such brilliant Mission AI. even when there is only ONE npc left in a mission and it is clear targeting you, causing damage to your ship, it is simultaneously killing your drones.