What is the use-case for drones?

[pmrn]

I'm about to sink my teeth into the new update and I'm trying to understand what the use-case is for drones. Long distance, small cargo space...I can't think of anything I would transport with them. What kinds of things are good to transport with drones?

[Verios44]

I plan to use them to feed my central mall and move small loads very quickly. For example, moving fabric from my oil refineries up to my filter plant much faster than training it.

[lpnlizard27]

I wont be useing them for any raw resources or even semi finished goods. more finished products and things that dont get consumed in vast quantity.

Currently i have one moveing batteries to my main base from a far off location. but havent really dug into their full capabilities yet.

Consider batteries are going to be a priority, But that one drone can effectively fly across the map on one fuel tank. i have this idea for them to bring any goods to a central location. Then any outpost that needs said material can just dispatch a drone to the central location to pick up said good, and that way i dont have to worry about trucking batteries all over the map.

[Kraft51]

^this .. and i imagine they could be useful in Coal Generators to balance lines so your plants aren't ever starved. hell you could probably use them to balance any lanes really, i doubt i will find a long distance use for them myself but who knows. i haven't even started messing with them yet.

[The Big Brzezinski]

Quartz, sulfur if you're not making compacted coal, caterium maybe? It's going to take more time for people to explore the possibilities.

[Blast]

I have 3 usecases :
- move batteries to have drones availables everywhere.
- central post office (on my main base every usefull items is attached to a drone port named after that compo. I just have to build a drone port where i want and ask for a compo, delivered in 1-2 minutes max).
- move uranium wastes to my main facility of plutonium in the middle of the sea. I move by drones some items hard to build there too like pressure conversion cube.

[Procrastinating Gamer]

Haven't had a chance to use them yet myself (I'm a lazy bastard so it's slow going :P )but I did find this on Reddit the other day which has some interesting ideas. And talks about how the drones consume batteries which would be a help for planning how to keep them fed.
https://www.reddit.com/r/SatisfactoryGame/comments/mbqex4/the_ultimate_drone_guide/

[SlowPsycho]

I think te one thing that has put me off drones is that they can only load batteries (for the purposes of power) at their home. Having 3 drones dropping off at a Port and not recharging cost me big time

[Geck0]

I use them for locations that buggies and trains can't easily get to, namely that resource cluster on the northern cliff of the northern forest, and uranium and bauxite.