Do drones get you more meat?

[P4wn4g3]

I notice that they give you half the weight of the fish, or the same weight but without some special part (like whitereef head or gun parts). So I'm wondering if it's worth it at all to use them to catch fish, or are they just to get the 3 star and let you carry less?

[P4wn4g3]

Maybe I should specify this is in regard to creatures that you would get more than one drop from, larger fish and sharks.

[stevasaur]

If the creature is still alive (from a steel net or a hush dart), you get 27 meat, which is more than you get from killing and looting manually.

If the creature is dead, I believe you still just get 10.

[Onyx]

Stevasaur has the right numbers. Using a drone to capture a fish does give significantly more meat.

Edit: one exception to note is blue and yellow tuna. IIRC drone capturing them only yields the cheapest meat, I think the akami. It does not yield chutoro or ootoro meat.

[P4wn4g3]

Cool, thanks. And thanks for the Tuna exception, I've been using a drone on those.
So you essentially miss out on 7 meat for anything that isn't a whitereef shark without a drone. Also I did notice that you actually do get the shark head from capturing, so maybe I was wrong about the other parts too. So I guess I need to be using a drone on the 3 types of ray, narwhal, sailfish, and humbolt squid according to my most profitable meals. I'm kinda assuming though that humbolt pasta is actually less worthwhile than it looks since it takes away 30% of your profits at night to get it, so maybe I'll only do that if I happen to go night fishing.

[Onyx]

I missed that part in your original post - yes, you can get ancillary parts from drone captures. As far as I've been able to tell the chance to drop remains the same regardless of kill or capture.

[P4wn4g3]

Cool. Not that I need it anymore but how do the Roe drops work? Meat gives you a certain chance?

[Onyx]

Originally posted by P4wn4g3:

Cool. Not that I need it anymore but how do the Roe drops work? Meat gives you a certain chance?

Doesn't matter capture or kill for roe either, you can get it from both.

[P4wn4g3]

How does a roe end up in your inventory though? When you get rid of a fish you don't seem to get its roe anymore, is the drop chance attached to each fish part you get or is is just if you have anything related to that fish in your inventory?

[Onyx]

Originally posted by P4wn4g3:

How does a roe end up in your inventory though? When you get rid of a fish you don't seem to get its roe anymore, is the drop chance attached to each fish part you get or is is just if you have anything related to that fish in your inventory?

Roe simply accumulates in a hidden pocket and appears to be totaled at the end of your dive. It never enters into your inventory during the dive (and never has). I believe I've seen roe accumulate for fish that I wound up discarding entirely during a dive.

[Bobucles]

Carving gives 2 slabs, drones give 3 slabs. If the fish is alive it will be 3 star meat which is usually 9 morsels per slab. If it's tuna the third meat is a unique oolong thingy.

Drones are very limited and the payout for living fish is huge. Don't waste them on dead fish or smaller catches. The level 4 tranq (and squeaky hammer) can sleep large fish which allows for a living drone capture. The steel net can capture nearly anything except the largest fish, and can capture multiple at once for the drone.

Beware there is some kind of UI bug with activating drones while spare oxygen is equipped(at least with my button map). The oxygen button conflicts with the drone button and you can easily lose the catch.

[P4wn4g3]

I don't really need most big fish though, so I don't want to catch an alive useless fish when I can get a dead useful one with the drone. Onyx said that you don't get Ootoro from drones.

[P4wn4g3]

So I just tested the Tuna thing.

Originally posted by Onyx:

IIRC drone capturing them only yields the cheapest meat, I think the akami. It does not yield chutoro or ootoro meat.

This is wrong.

Originally posted by Bobucles:

If it's tuna the third meat is a unique oolong thingy.

This is correct.

[Onyx]

Do you have a screenshot of your post dive summary? This is interesting and the direct opposite of what I've experienced in game.

[P4wn4g3]

no, but I can get one whenever I get more Tuna. Try it again for yourself, they may have changed it at some point.

[Coffee]

It always gived more meat.