Drones - how do they work, how do you make 'em?

[puddingwrestler]

I want to use rather a lot of drones in my Radium Falls Mining Co. security force. Thing is, I am not completely sure how they work. I think they use the skill of a remote operator; but is there a range on this? Do you need a drone controller on the table, and how many drones can he/she/it control? Does the drone controller need to use actions to run drones, and if so, does that mean only two instructions can be rellayed to drones per turn?

Also, which unit builder should I use? I've got GZG spider droids, GZG micro grav pods and some GZG legged mobile artillery. The spider droids seem to make sense as grunts, as do the micro pods, but should the artillery be specialists or artillery?

I assume drones are immune to psychological effects, which would mean they'd want the automata perk. Is there some sort of indication of dronedom apart from that?

[inrepose]

I use Specialist for Drones and Spider Droids. Bigger legged mobile artillery would use the artillery builder. I will share details of the Spider Droid card to give you an idea.

[puddingwrestler]

DO they use their own stats to fire weapons or do they use the stats of a controller?
The rulebook is not clear on this, it merely mentions that a figure can use it's skill to fire a drone weapon without going into detail on how this happens.

[dassenkop]

Would be interested in this as well.

My idea on clones was that they would use their own stats. The controller would be off the board not to clutter the board or complicate the rules to much.

One thing I was wondering about thinking of counter measures is what would happen if you manage to jam the signal to the drone making it 'powerless' for a turn of so. Not sure I found an answer in the rules to this.

I guess if you use a controller on the board you would face a similar question. Perhaps a negative feature like -1 or -2 'buypoints' for drone specialists compared to robotic/AI specialists to balance both types of units.

[inrepose]

I think I need to produce an overview of using remote drones, both intelligent ones and on-board controlled. I like the idea of the need to protect a control vehicle or control specialist. I have actually been in touch with Jon at GZG about the potential for making a drone launch and control vehicle, which has six of the small drones or two of the large drones in launch bays on the back of a tank/utility vehicle and some sort of comms array.

[dassenkop]

Sept 5, 2011 10:06:50 GMT -5 inrepose said:

I like the idea of the need to protect a control vehicle or control specialist.

I must admit I also like this and I can see scenarios were you would actually want a controller on the board. For example an ambush on a convoy behind enemy lines or an attack on a command bunker, etc.

But in most instances I would have the controller off board, just like artillery for that matter. Or if the controller has to be put on the board simply move if off-board (to my knowledge I don't see a 'punishment' for moving off board in the rules at the moment) on the first turn in order to 'save' the drone from being disconnected from its controller.

Would it be possible to separate the building cost for the drone from the control specialist/vehicle/bunker or building?

I might be seeing things that are not there or complicating the issue but I assume that in both cases you would need to think about what happens if 'control' of the drone is lost (or jammed).

[puddingwrestler]

I'd be assuming it's possible to use NN jamming or hacking to disrupt drone communications. There's also a finite limit on how far away you can use communications etc. so I'd assume there's a limit on how far away a drone controller can be, which measn they'd probably need to be physically present on table.

[dassenkop]

Sept 6, 2011 0:32:22 GMT -5 puddingwrestler said:

There's also a finite limit on how far away you can use communications etc. so I'd assume there's a limit on how far away a drone controller can be, which measn they'd probably need to be physically present on table.

Your right puddingwrestler. I didn't consider use of drones in direct support of infantry etc. were you would put a drone in an exposed position while your infantry is acting from a more protected postion. For example drones extinghising fires or dismantling bombs with controller close by to observe the situation.

When thinking of drones I considered long range scout type units for which control via satalites or other means of long range communication would be possible.

[kealios]

Another angle on drones are these models from Khurasan:



Can anyone say Bomb Dogs?

The handler needs to be able to escort the dogs until some point, at which the dogs sprint off and do their thing. Then, well, no more dogs So I need some Drone rules and some One-Use Weapon rules. They arent "Air Support Vehicles", so that option won't work.

I COULD just build a Specialist with a cool weapon, and call the weapon "Dogs", but this implies an unlimited amount of dogs to send in, and doesnt account for terrain ("I can launch my dogs over water!") or Indirect Fire, really...

I COULD buy one specialist as a Handler (though what good would this do except cost more points?) and the other models as specialist with crazy movement skills...Hmmm...However, this allows no "Untrained" for either Shooting or Skill, such as animals would have. I also had to buy the movement as "Wheeled" to get a higher movement rate, which isnt exactly correct. "Long Runners" I guess could also fix this...so I'll try that instead.

Buying no Ranged Weapon, and giving Power Claw as CCW...fun! I've got 11 point dogs. Interesting! Thanks for the ramble...it let me buy this how I need to, I guess. The 1 point required in "Skill" is a waste, and they arent quite fast enough for my taste, but its a start.

[Raziel]

Wow, great idea, I think handler could controll your dogs on ranges longer than 3'' , coherency is only for a squad of gruntz i think. I read somewhere that the drone issue will be adressed in upcomming ver 1.1 of rules, so hopefully you'll find your answer

[kealios]

Watching the Rottenlead Episode 6, I got to the discussion around 42m45s and got the idea of Wave Particle Decimator to represent the Bomb Dog, but the problem is, its a Modz, so cannot go on a Specialist. Now, if we had a Perkz that auto-killed the model that uses it but allowed a replication of this one-use blast, NOW we'd be talking (And considering my Dogs are costing 11-ish points, and your unit of Gruntz might be cheaper than that, it might not even be too unbalanced!)