Player Features and Ideas Discussion

The Issue: to deploy and use drones the user must do the following from the drone window:
1. click-and-drag their drones into space
(or right-click and launch drones)
2. tell the drones to attack the correct target.
3. recall drones

not too bad really, but it could be better

Idea 1:
Drone window stays as it is, but drone groups are able to be dragged into the ship 'module' UI

1. Activating the drone module launches the drones and attacks the selected target if there is one
a. alternatively, initially activating the module may just launch the drones and activating it again actually tells the drones to engage and turns the module on.

2. While drones are in combat, the drone module is "active"
a. when target is destroyed, drones will (depending on passive/aggressive setting) either target the next aggressor or deactivate module and return to drone bay.
b. if there are no more aggressors, module will deactivate and drones will return to drone bay

3. Deactivating the module tells the drones to return to drone bay
a. while deactivated, the module can be reactivated on a new target before they get back to the drone bay.

4. Activating a second group of drones deactivates the first group, and wont launch until the first group is back in the drone bay.

Summary
The drone groups and settings are still managed from the drone window, but people may either continue to use drones like they do now or they can drag a group of drones to their module slots and control them there instead.

Idea 2:

I won't expand out my other ideas quite as much, but the current drone window could be made of buttons rather than selectable items. You could still click and drag the drones to a new group or whatnot but simply left-clicking the group of drones launches them. Clicking on it again attacks the current target and so on.

Idea 3:

The least easily implementable (could be considered a feature) expands on the solution in Idea 1.
Rather than only drones being able to be created as a new module button, the user is able to create a button 'macro' in their module UI.

For those who may not know, a macro is like a single button which executes a custom list of commands

To be a solution to this problem, the drone commands would have to be able to be implemented, but you could also have a single button which turns on all your weapons, your web, and your warp scrambler... just for example.


If you read through all that (or even just one of the ideas), Thank you and let me know what you think. Feel free to expand on anything I said or come up with solutions of your own.

the 'drag group to button' idea has been well requested