drone ships

[Cheemimus Maximus]

where can I find a flora ship to take down?

[Cheemimus Maximus]

or a big brother ships?

[Air Bear]

Should be able to first find Flora ships in level 25-35 systems specialising in science. They will be civilian only, so you may need to attack civilian bases or do missions that attack civilian targets. If you don't find them in that level range, try higher.

Big brother ships are 30+ ships. I *think* they were UTA ships. They are one of the last ones the UTA resorts to before using huge ships, so you may have to go to systems closer to the core worlds to get them. I'm pretty sure I remember them frequently being gate guards, so thats why I'm calling them UTA ships.

[Cheemimus Maximus]

thanks so much.

[Arver Anteos]

Another idea is to get them from zombies. They appear at random in (of course) infested systems, no need to attack either UTA or CIV bases or do missions where you do so. You can also more easily get Bounty Hunter ships from zombies. To make it easier, get both the UTA and CIV bases on at least Like for relations, that way you'll have a bit of a buffer between you and the zombies. Much less risk that way.

[Cheemimus Maximus]

thanks

[White Spirit]

To not make another thread - drone ships seem kinda lackluster to me.

With both 5 tech in drones and missiles, and using The Pelican as a missile platform with 2 huge torpedos + 3 small missiles, and using The Big Brother ship with huge torpedo, large cannon and drones, Pelican probably deals 3-4 times more damage.
Plus it has a ton of utility slots, while Big Brother has one.

Drones can be used to deal with smaller ships, but your AI support ships can already do this as well. Against class 4 or 5 ships drones don't really do anything, they repair hull faster than drones damage them.

Haven't yet tried Sunspot since I don't have access to it, at least it has 3 drone bays instead of 1 + booster slots.

[FDru]

Drones seem doomed to be useless in the players hands, because if they were stronger then they would be impossible to deal with when enemies use them.

But as long as the enemy throws endless amounts of ships at you, and lots of them have strong point defense, then player drones will not get a chance to work like they do when enemies use them against your small fleet of ships.

[Emmote]

Drones are never as good as just using cannons or beams are.

Even with 10 in Cannons, 10 in Drones and 3 Cloaked Bomber Drones on a Sunspot, they barely scratch enemies. Even if you put Cannon Boosters on every other slot. The same can be said for Zapper Drones and Beams.

I even tried a 10 Beam, 10 Cannon Sunspot with 1 of each Cloaked Drone (Cannon, Zapper and Bomber) and that was still very meh.

I realise they're mostly meant to be support, but they're so insignificant that they're not worth the spots they're on.

You're better off just using Mass Drivers and Burst Cannons or the beam equivilent.

[eliotno3]

Hi Emmote, I know this is almost a year commenting on a dead thread but I just have to add (as a long-time SPAZ lover) investing heavily in drones/crew/even mines is *not* useless. You just need the right specialists and play-style, which most have VERY little patience for. Cannon/Beams are simple and upfront approach, so yes a very safe bet there... who doesn't like to BLAST their enemy to bits? But an AI cloaked 3 ship team of quickly regenerating zapper/bomb cloaked drone ships can blanket a group of enemies so quickly it's like watching a swarm of locusts devour a steer.

One after the other... again and again and again. :P

Your drones also function as point defense vs zombie critters. Of course this build has to be modified in the final fight vs mr zombie boss, just like you wouldn't send your space marines to fight a group of overwhelming odds. This is why there is an A B C for saved ships to choose from.

My point to other readers is that other builds like drone are not "meh" and can be quite OP... try them out if you get the time and like a challenge! :)

[Epic The Incandescent]

Mines are strong but require kiting, drones IMO are fun to use and can be powerful..on a sunspot but otherwise I just use mines as the drones lack the kick they have at later levels. Great agaisnt zombies though

[eliotno3]

Um, right... those that get familiar with the game will find this obvious immediately upon using mines/drones. Another thing to watch for is like ships mad rushing your warpgate, since these builds require a short time to kick in: you won't be able to survive or protect from an initial onslaught w/out lasers or the like when attacking a warp gate/bandit hideout at first.

While waiting for SPAZ2 I've maxed out crew in an expert game & my Space Marines are constantly dropping me specialists during stage 3. They mostly get fed to the space hatch, but still it is good fun. Cheers, hope the info is useful to you new players reading this and happy blasting!