Builder drones

[Aburix]

Hey,

I want to buy a builder, but i'm not sure if i need some cargo drones on it or only building drones ?

And i found info that some ppl test it and the builder build at max speed with no building drones at all. Is this a bug ?

[BGratz]

I allways add only the real necessary amount of other drones
For a miner thats (only how i do it, no idea if these other drones help at the maintasks, probably not)
10 Def
10 Carry
10 Repair
70 Construction

And yes my miner with 70 Construction drones is 3-4 times faster than the damn teladi Builder with only 15 Drones. If i remember right someone said that after 40-50 Drones there is no more speedboost, well this can be

[Aburix]

Yep, i read too that over 30-40 building drones there is no speed bonus, but more are ok for replacement if builder is attacked and drones get destroyed while building something.

I think Defence drones are to weak, die to fast, until in very great numbers, so i think are quite useless on L miners or builders and more useful on stations who can replace them automatically.

But i don't know about cargo drones on builders if are necessary. I don't want to build them for nothing, to have no use.

[BGratz]

Well, if you ever tried to trade with a station that had no Cargo drones you would not feel that they are senseless. At least yoou can move them to the fresh build station to have there at least a few drones

[Aburix]

Originally posted by BGratz:

Well, if you ever tried to trade with a station that had no Cargo drones you would not feel that they are senseless. At least you can move them to the fresh build station to have there at least a few drones

Well, yes, i have cargo drones on miners and traders, but not sure if builders need them.
But just in case i will get 10 on builder too.

[Asmosis]

combat drones use the Mk1 small pulse laser, so having 20-30 of them should be sufficient to repel small Xenon/Kha'ak raiding parties.

Something like
50 builder
30 combat
20 repair

might be good? Builder ships only have 50 container storage so cargo drones are pretty useless for them.

[BGratz]

Well Combat drones make not much sense too, at least if you play as i do.
My Builder Ships only build alone in safe territory. As soon as they construct in a dangerous area they are anyway protected by a fleet of warships. And as soon as the First module is up i add the Protection Ships to the station, they should protect the builder too.

But sure it can make sense if you play different

[Asmosis]

I typically send them off to do defensive station missions next to Xenon entry gates and wave "good luck!" when they leave. (it's also why i dont have my own builder ships)

[kelmenwong]

afaik, max 30 builder drones can be active on 1 builder.

[Zloth]

Yep, 30 is the max. I suppose you could keep extras in case of attack, but how often does that happen? Just buy more if it does.

Cargo drones aren't directly useful but could be transferred to the station once completed. Same with defense and repair drones. All in all, lots of drones just aren't terribly handy for these ships.

I haven't found builder ships to be very handy for building, honestly. 50k to rent one is vastly cheaper. They are good at training service folks, though!