Federation Commander

Modified tactic for fleet scale... sure...

What modified tactic could you device for your drone to survive when the opposition just freely got his ratio of ADD more than doubled (scale change divide by 2 the number of drones, not of ADD, and ADD can now fire in offense at longer range than contact).

I understand than drones are not marvel weapons (in fact I found them totally out of place in this game*) but they could at very least be weapons... At Fleet scale they aren't even that...




(*) we are in space, we fight at several time the speed of light yet we thrown at each other puny missile that are slower than us. Drones should be treated like Photon Torpedo...

IKerensky wrote:scale change divide by 2 the number of drones, not of ADD

That's not exactly true. Some ships don't half their drones beacuse they had an odd number, e.g a number of fed ships have 1 drone rack in either scale. Equally some lose ADDs, e.g the Kzinti NCA has 2 ADD at squadron scale and 1 ADD at fleet scale.

What you are seeing is a much more general issue with fleet scale, in that odd numbers of weapons (at squadron scale) do not halve very well.

IKerensky wrote:Modified tactic for fleet scale... sure...

What modified tactic could you device for your drone to survive when the opposition just freely got his ratio of ADD more than doubled (scale change divide by 2 the number of drones, not of ADD, and ADD can now fire in offense at longer range than contact).

Well, for one, I would position myself to be ready for an attack run and dump one at the end of the turn. The following turn I would either run it at 24 or 16+1 for the first impulse and launch a second set. I'd let the drones run out in front of me as I run in. This will force the enemy to choose (choose me or shoot the drones). ADDs are not automatic kills and the target ship just tractoring them when me running right behind them (with the potential to bring down the shield and kill tractors) is not the best option). Also, if I had some power (any power at all) I would pop out of suicide shuttle or two to further complicate things once I got in close.

This is just one possibility. As I said, drones are part of the bigger picture and need to be used as part of a combined attack. The ADD can only engage one thing at a time. Does this mean I will automatically get a drone hit? No, but it greatly increases the likelihood and improves my standing in the battle.

IKerensky wrote:I understand than drones are not marvel weapons (in fact I found them totally out of place in this game*) but they could at very least be weapons... At Fleet scale they aren't even that...

If you are not finding them to be weapons, then I would suggestion you review how you use them or fight someone that knows how to use them well (not me as they are not my forte). Something that moves speed 24 and does 12 points of damage is indeed a weapon.

IKerensky wrote:(*) we are in space, we fight at several time the speed of light yet we thrown at each other puny missile that are slower than us. Drones should be treated like Photon Torpedo...

Moves at speed 24 which is as fast as any accelerated ship can move, they do 12 points of damage and take 4 points of damage to kill and you call them puny? And that just because your opponent has ADDs?

And treated like photons? How so? So, they should take energy over multiple turns to load and launch as operate as direct fire weapons? Then they wouldn't be drones and wouldn't require anyone to learn anything other than the use multi-turn arming direct fire weapon. And all of that because of the ADD? I don't see that ADDs are that powerful (even in Fleet Scale) that a complete rewrite of drone rules and design is needed. Work on your tactics or play a race that does not use drones, if you see them as such a non-useful weapon.