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does anyone know much about Drones

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Kyoko Yamakawa
JUST SET TIMES
#1 - 2012-03-13 11:44:05 UTC
i have to say the dps from drones is very low. it's much lower than missiles and turrets. but i wanna make drones as my main way to attack. do you think if it can work well? BTW i don't wanna fly carriers. can anyone give me some suggestions? Thanks for your patience to read that :)
Karak Bol
Low-Sec Survival Ltd.
#2 - 2012-03-13 12:03:31 UTC
Well, obviously Drone Interfacing V, Combat Drone Operation V and Heavy Drones V along with appropiate Drone Spec V already does quiet some Damage. A Ship with Drone Damage Bonus (Domi, Myrmi, Pilgrim etc.) does the rest. The damage of Drones is not about one shooting, but about grinding the enemy down. Pilgrims are quiet good for this, as they get a neut bonus. For the same reason, Domi with neuts are common.
Kyoko Yamakawa
JUST SET TIMES
#3 - 2012-03-13 12:14:35 UTC
Thanks for that. i might get it. :)
Zhilia Mann
Tide Way Out Productions
#4 - 2012-03-13 15:59:23 UTC
That maximum effective damage you can get from a drones alone on a subcap is 538 DPS. This requires maxed ship skills on an Ishtar, Gila, Dominix, or Rattlesnake plus Sentry Drone Interfacing 5 (required for T2 sentry drones), Drone Interfacing 5, and two T1 Sentry Drone Augmentors. To really take full advantage of this setup, you also need to fit a few Omnidirectional Tracking Links, which add optimal and tracking to your drones, pushing a Garde IIs engagement window out to about 50km.

It's a viable setup in PvE, but remains kind of niche in PvP. To go an all-drone route also requires pretty much all your drone support skills to 5. Carrying only sentry drones is usually a bad idea as they don't move and have trouble hitting targets that get too close. As a result, you'll want T2 light and medium drones at the very least. T2 heavy drones require a (very) slightly different training path but are also well worth your while. It's entirely possible to sink 10mil SP into sub-cap drones if you really want to make them effective -- and that's without taking racial specs to 5, which would add another ~4mil.

Eventually you'll want to branch out to other weapon systems. There's nothing wrong with going full-on drones to start with though.
Ireland VonVicious
Vicious Trading Company
#5 - 2012-03-13 19:40:29 UTC  |  Edited by: Ireland VonVicious
With 20mil in drones I can say with no issue they are rad!

By far my favorite weapon system.

They may look weak on dps but it's not what you might think at first.

Drone damage lands and lands well. It's also able to chose dmg type and is very versatile.
They also help in ew situations.

Rattlesnake is top high sec drone ship.
Tau Cabalander
Retirement Retreat
Working Stiffs
#6 - 2012-03-13 20:14:58 UTC
I have my shadow alt in a Rattlesnake drone boat (he has no other weapon skills) setup with a sentry rig, and I really like it. The Rattlesnake is basically a better Dominix that looks like a Scorpion, but with a huge shield tank (I have it setup as a neut immune passive shield tank with passive resists).

I find sentry drones (like Garde I) chew through everything except close orbiting frigates, and light drones make quick work of those. I can't wait for T2 sentries in 4 days! Heavy 5 after that.

I'll probably train that character for a carrier eventually (again no turrets or missiles), as I plan to get Caldari BS 5 & Gallente BS 5 for the Rattlesnake.
Ireland VonVicious
Vicious Trading Company
#7 - 2012-03-14 04:34:19 UTC
You'll find that heavies do a better job of afk missioning.

You may also want to add in f.o.f. missles to your afk snake.

2 invulns with the rest passive seems to work best from what I've tested.