Ship doesn't deploy all repair drones. Pointless to buy them?

[user1679]

I know drones have been discussed many times but I don't recall seeing discussion about how the ship decides to deploy them and if it's worth even buying more than one.

I have a ship that can carry 10 drones so I bought 5 plus 5 cargo. During a fight, Scale Plate took out my engines so once the battle was over I figured I'd let the repair drones take care of it while I scouted more of the sector in another ship. I came back about 5 IRL minutes later and the ship was still not repaired enough to move. I opened the fitting info window and noticed the engines were still at 75%, based on the white HP bar. But, I also noticed only 3 of my 5 repair drones were deployed.

I couldn't figure out how to force the other 2 drones to deploy and no, they hadn't been destroyed, so I was wondering if the ship is only going to use 3 drones, what's the point of buying more than 3? Sure, they can be destroyed but in that case I can always use my space suit.

[geldonyetich]

The usual complaint about repair drones is people would like to stop them from launching in the middle of battle because they don't like how they get destroyed. It's ironic that there's also players who want to launch more drones.

Well, I think the repair rate is somewhat restricted to your service crew so it wouldn't make a big difference anyway. The repair drones are mostly handy to bring up completely destroyed surface elements, after that the service crew can repair it the rest of the way from within.

[mediacenter]

The usual complaint about repair drones is people would like to stop them from launching in the middle of battle because they don't like how they get destroyed. It's ironic that there's also players who want to launch more drones.

Well, I think the repair rate is somewhat restricted to your service crew so it wouldn't make a big difference anyway. The repair drones are mostly handy to bring up completely destroyed surface elements, after that the service crew can repair it the rest of the way from within.

why its ironic?

one dont want to deploy drones in the middle of a fight, the other want to deploy all his drones at the end of it

two unrelated problems

[user1679]

The usual complaint about repair drones is people would like to stop them from launching in the middle of battle because they don't like how they get destroyed. It's ironic that there's also players who want to launch more drones.

Well, I think the repair rate is somewhat restricted to your service crew so it wouldn't make a big difference anyway. The repair drones are mostly handy to bring up completely destroyed surface elements, after that the service crew can repair it the rest of the way from within.

Yes, I remember reading that drones are counted in with your service crew. But I don't see anything that says there's a limit and even if 2 extra drones is an additional 1% faster, I'll take it considering I paid for the drones.

[Alan Phipps]

I think the deployments and circuits of repair drones may be more cosmetic aspects and that merely having them allocated may be enough. Two observations lead me to that opinion:

1. The surface element that the drones are going to and zapping is not necessarily the one gaining hull points at that time.
2. Repair drones held inside M ships that have no drone launch tube and so cannot deploy them will still see enhanced repair rates because of them.

I am quite happy to have repair drone deployments as long as when not in combat or attacking, and not when traveldriving or boosting. Some 'game magic' that automatically and quickly autodocks them before such conditions apply would be fine in my eyes (rather than needlessly losing drones or creating orphans despondently trailing far behind their ships).

[Mookau]

The usual complaint about repair drones is people would like to stop them from launching in the middle of battle because they don't like how they get destroyed. It's ironic that there's also players who want to launch more drones.

Well, I think the repair rate is somewhat restricted to your service crew so it wouldn't make a big difference anyway. The repair drones are mostly handy to bring up completely destroyed surface elements, after that the service crew can repair it the rest of the way from within.

Yes, I remember reading that drones are counted in with your service crew. But I don't see anything that says there's a limit and even if 2 extra drones is an additional 1% faster, I'll take it considering I paid for the drones.

The first repair drone increases the repair rate by 9x your service crew repair rate, with each drone after that being an additional 10x - See Crew Skills - Misc: Repairs.

[Neithy]

I know you said it, but it would be really great if we could disable drones during combat. For example on Boron Ray the drones spawn in front right under main cannon, but then they fly straight up into beam. So either I loose all 10 drones instantly leaving me without repairs or I have to stop completly shooting.

[RainerPrem]

I know you said it, but it would be really great if we could disable drones during combat. For example on Boron Ray the drones spawn in front right under main cannon, but then they fly straight up into beam. So either I loose all 10 drones instantly leaving me without repairs or I have to stop completly shooting.

You know that you can set the drones to "inactive"?

[Neithy]

I know you said it, but it would be really great if we could disable drones during combat. For example on Boron Ray the drones spawn in front right under main cannon, but then they fly straight up into beam. So either I loose all 10 drones instantly leaving me without repairs or I have to stop completly shooting.

You know that you can set the drones to "inactive"?

Not repair drones. Only cargo and maybe defence drones. Last time I checked repair drones can not be disarmed.

[Alan Phipps]

Not repair drones you can't (in 6.20 at least).

EDIT: Ninja'd.

[RainerPrem]

I know you said it, but it would be really great if we could disable drones during combat. For example on Boron Ray the drones spawn in front right under main cannon, but then they fly straight up into beam. So either I loose all 10 drones instantly leaving me without repairs or I have to stop completly shooting.

You know that you can set the drones to "inactive"?

Not repair drones. Only cargo and maybe defence drones. Last time I checked repair drones can not be disarmed.

Oops. Yes, correct. Sorry

[user1679]

I think the deployments and circuits of repair drones may be more cosmetic aspects and that merely having them allocated may be enough. Two observations lead me to that opinion:

1. The surface element that the drones are going to and zapping is not necessarily the one gaining hull points at that time.
2. Repair drones held inside M ships that have no drone launch tube and so cannot deploy them will still see enhanced repair rates because of them.

I am quite happy to have repair drone deployments as long as when not in combat or attacking, and not when traveldriving or boosting. Some 'game magic' that automatically and quickly autodocks them before such conditions apply would be fine in my eyes (rather than needlessly losing drones or creating orphans despondently trailing far behind their ships).

Interesting theory. But I wonder what's the point of listing the number deployed if they're only cosmetic. Maybe so you can have a quick idea of how many are destroyed.

The first repair drone increases the repair rate by 9x your service crew repair rate, with each drone after that being an additional 10x - See Crew Skills - Misc: Repairs.

Thanks for the link

[geldonyetich]

The usual complaint about repair drones is people would like to stop them from launching in the middle of battle because they don't like how they get destroyed. It's ironic that there's also players who want to launch more drones.

why its ironic?

one dont want to deploy drones in the middle of a fight, the other want to deploy all his drones at the end of it

two unrelated problems

Yes, unless we're talking about our repair drones being destroyed, in which case the former player wants them not to deploy all at once to keep them safe, and the latter player wants them all to deploy at once to repair faster.

Although, that said, they should want to deploy drones in the middle of the fight because that's when they need those surface elements up the most. Repair drones are cheap, replacing the entire ship that was destroyed because it couldn't bring its surface elements up in time is expensive.

But it's a good example of how even a simple change can't please everyone. Unless maybe they gave us some kind of active-repair-drones-at-once slider or something.

The first repair drone increases the repair rate by 9x your service crew repair rate, with each drone after that being an additional 10x - See Crew Skills - Misc: Repairs.

Wow, I didn't know repair drones were that influential.

I guess my ships don't spend a lot of time damaged so I didn't really pay attention to how long it takes for crew to repair them.

Although I will say earlier in a 7.0 build I had a captured ship that never fully restored its hull points, even with crew and repair drones. I probably should have submitted that with a saved game.

[GCU Grey Area]

Although, that said, they should want to deploy drones in the middle of the fight because that's when they need those surface elements up the most. Repair drones are cheap, replacing the entire ship that was destroyed because it couldn't bring its surface elements up in time is expensive.

Not necessarily. For me that depends entirely on the nature of the damage, since not all damage carries the same risk of the entire ship being lost. If it's just a single turret that's been slightly damaged I most definitely do NOT want repair drones to launch immediately to fix it. Service crew can handle such minor repairs, or can get it repaired next time the ship's flying past a shipyard, etc. Far too great a risk of repair drones being destroyed if they launch during combat to fix something trivial, meaning they're not available later when I really need them, e.g. enemy frigate just torpedoed all of my engines & so now the ship can't move or aim it's main guns.

In the absense of a (highly desirable) toggle to turn repair drones on/off, the workaround I use to keep control of them is to mod an S ship with Lubricator & re-roll until I get Unit Capacity as one of it's secondary functions. I store repair drones on that ship & only transfer them to the main ship when it has sustained catastrophic damage that's essential to fix ASAP.

[geldonyetich]

If I were to go for a long-term solution, we probably need smarter repair drones rather than a manual override. That way we won't need to resort to offloading them to frigates or modded S ships or a nearby resupply ship or whatever.

In the small scale, controlling our own craft, it's definitely something we'd want as we watch helplessly as our repair drones are destroyed. On the large scale, that toggle would be a nightmare.

Maybe repair drones only come out when a ship stops taking damage for 30 seconds or so. Then they go back into hiding if damage resumes. Even longer if a repair drone is destroyed.

[Nanook]

... On the large scale, that toggle would be a nightmare....

Explain, please. As it stands now, having no toggle is currently a "nightmare" for most players. How would the ability to control when the drones activated be bad? As I see it, the devs could put the toggle option in the overall (or each ship's) behaviour tab, allowing the player to choose ahead of time how the drones operate in a fleet situation. To me, that's more a wonderful dream than a nightmare.

[user1679]

I would like to see repairs like this:

1. Add a slider that lets me set the % damage that drones are deployed during combat
1b. A slider that lets me pick the # of drones (0 to max available)

2. Add a slider that lets me set the % damage to deploy service crew in spacesuits to repiar out of combat
2b. A slider that lets me pick the # of crew (0 to max available)
2c. A toggle to deploy drones instead of crew, but drones repair at slower rate

#2 is really for immersion. I think it would be fun to see 8 spacesuits floating around my XL battleship using their repair lasers. This would also need some sort of telport option so if you tell the ship to move, the crew doesn't have to dock.

[geldonyetich]

... On the large scale, that toggle would be a nightmare....

Explain, please. As it stands now, having no toggle is currently a "nightmare" for most players. How would the ability to control when the drones activated be bad?

Okay, I'll explain.

I was talking about a literal toggle: repair drones on/off.

Imagine you have a fleet of 2,000 destroyers. You want their repair drones not to be destroyed so you turn them off.

Then the existential crisis happens, widespread devastation across all your happenings in the gate network.

So please identify, among 1,524 destroyers remaining destroyers, which were damaged, and now need their drones turned on. Then take the necessary (at 3 seconds per destroyer) 1.27 hours required to go into their tabs one by one to do that. Please record which ones you did that for so you can remember to come back later and turn them off again now that they're repaired. Oh, you'll need to do it before the service crew take care of the damage or it's pointless to turn the drones on in the first place.

But what a heavenly 3 hours that will be? Probably not. I doubt many players would enjoy that. They might even call it... nightmarish.

Although I suppose if you could select all the ships at once, right click and choose "repair drones: on" that might do it. But it might also annoy players to have that option there during the almost 100% of the time you don't need to toggle that.

As I see it, the devs could put the toggle option in the overall (or each ship's) behaviour tab, allowing the player to choose ahead of time how the drones operate in a fleet situation. To me, that's more a wonderful dream than a nightmare.

Okay, sure, but the behavior tab is an example of an automated behavior. Ideally this should be set *once* and take care of it forever, or even saved on the shipyard blueprint so we never need to see it again.

Technically I would say that we have enough automation for a workaround already. Auxiliaries assigned to fleets, and automatic behaviors related to maintenance station modules, and such should get around to servicing all 1,524 of those damaged destroyers without the player lifting a finger.

But those same methods also make the whole repair drone furor kind of irrelevant.

[Nanook]

...
Imagine you have a fleet of 2,000 destroyers...

I can't!! Why in the Universe would anyone need 2000 destroyers? And if they could, just what kind of computer do they have? Mine certainly couldn't ever handle that many destroyers over all, let alone in one fleet taking battle damage. And what enemy would you go up against needing that many? Even the so-called Existential Crisis doesn't throw even 1% of that many at the player at a time. Massive exaggeration doesn't really do much for your argument.

[geldonyetich]

Shoot, you're right. I was imagining some huge 10,000 hour game with destroyers scattered everywhere throughout the gate network, but most players will have stopped long before that. A game that runs at 5 FPS would be a nightmare enough already for most.

I should have just used example of a mere ten L ships. Turning those drones off and on between once every battle doesb't seem so bad, does it?

Now continue to it over the course of a long game, and I think it would eventually wear you down to the point where you stop bothering to toggle them anymore